Tightrope
by Solemn Nonsense
Summary: Life as Uchiha Sasuke is like walking on a tightrope, exhilarating, death-defying, nerve-wrecking, and one wrong step means a plummet into darkness. As far as a second chance at life goes, it's not the most conducive to longevity. But life goes on. OC reincarnated as Sasuke. OC!Sasuke. Not SI. Warning! MxM MxF FxF
1. Chapter 1

General Disclaimer: Naruto belongs to Kishimoto Masashi.

Author's Note (5/29/18): This story is now officially tagged as **Sasuke x Multi**. And yes, multi includes **both male and female characters**. So if that offends your delicate sensibilities then please leave. Now. No, seriously. Like, right now.

* * *

Chapter 1

Falling in Line

When the nurse came into the room, Uchiha Sasuke was already awake. The boy lied in bed; eyes open, but gaze blank, as he stared up at the white ceiling. Mina was the boy's designated nurse. At first it was considered an honor of sorts that that upper echelon entrusted her with the daily care of the Last Uchiha, but as she watched over the boy during his comatose state, Mina came to realize exactly what that title meant for the too young boy.

She shook her head and tried for a smile to make her voice chipper as she entered the private room and closed the door behind her. "Oh good, you're awake! How are you feeling?" She approached to check his vitals.

Sasuke blinked his eyes slowly and tilted his head just slightly to be able to look at her. He seemed to look through her, his mind not all there. He turned to the ceiling, looked back at her, and then away again. Mina didn't let it get to her. Disorientation was to be expected from this patient, especially after what the boy's brother had done to him. She finished checking his vitals. Everything looked okay.

"Head… hurts…" The boy croaked out. "Con… cussion?"

"No, Uchiha-kun. You don't have a concussion. It's likely a lingering effect from the genjutsu," she explained gently.

The boy's eyebrows scrunched up in confusion. Then his eyes widened and his pupils dilated as realization struck him. He shot up in bed. "Where is he? That bastard! Was he caught? What am I… what am I doing here? I thought I… I thought he-" the boy touched one hand to his neck delicately in a protective gesture, the other arm wrapped around the front of his body like a shield, "I thought I died…"

Mina raised her hands in a placating gesture. "You're fine Sasuke-kun," she said, switching to his given name instead of his surname. Maybe the reminder of his family name was causing him distress. "You're not dead. You have no physical damage. But I regret to inform you that Itachi was not caught."

"What? What are you talking about? He… he choked me to death! I… I… I should be dead! Why am I- what am I doing here?"

She pressed the button to call for help incase the boy became violent. "That was just an illusion in the genjutsu," she tried to reason with him. The boy did not have any signs of strangulation marks on his neck or any other physical marks when they found him. "Please, Sasuke-kun, calm down! Don't agitate yourself too much."

The boy looked at her with confusion, as if unable to comprehend the words coming from her mouth, but he seemed to be thinking at least and no longer in hysterics. Good, Mina thought. At that moment the door swung open. A veteran medic-nin and his apprentice entered the room. "What's the situation?" The medic-nin demanded as he approached Sasuke's bedside. His apprentice trotted behind with a clipboard in his hand.

Mina tried to explain that the patient was in hysterics, but is better now when all of a sudden Sasuke started screaming and shuffling backwards in the bed. "Get away! Get away from me!" He threw the pillow at the medic-nin and the apprentice and started reaching for other things to throw.

They were all startled at first, but soon the three move in unison to subdue the patient. When the medic-nin and his apprentice got close, Sasuke's hysteria rose. They soon got the young boy subdued, however, and into an enforced sleep.

"It seems the patient's mental state is much worse than we first anticipated," the medic-nin noted. "Keep monitoring him for changes."

"Understood."

"What a horrible thing to do to your own little brother," the apprentice remarked. Mina could not help agreeing and pitying the poor boy. And to think the one time she met Itachi, he was such a polite young man.

xxx

The second time the boy woke up he was much calmer. When Mina entered the room it was to find Sasuke sitting up, propped by his pillow and staring out into the village. When she approached him, he requested a mirror. Perplexed by the strange request, she nonetheless brought him the requested item.

Sasuke took the mirror with trembling hands, as if frightened to look at his own reflection. Mina wondered why that might be. The boy looked at his reflection. His eyes widened at the sight, but then became half-lidded and dull as if in resignation. He stared at his reflection until she finally took the mirror away and proceeded to check his blood pressure and other vitals. All clear.

"How are you today, Sasuke-kun?" She asked gently. The boy gave her a half-dead look that startled her, but she tried to keep her smile firm and her eyes gentle. Eventually he opened his mouth, but then the medic-nin came in to check on the patient.

"How is he today?" He asked.

Sasuke gave a visible start and backed away from the approaching doctor with frightened eyes, his legs coming up like a shield. The medic-nin noticed this and paused in his step. Man and boy stared at each other until the medic-nin took a step back and the patient slowly loosened up from his defensive curl.

"Sorry," the boy murmured. "I- I don't know why- I couldn't help- I'm sorry. I'm so sorry." He sobbed.

"Shh. It's okay, Sasuke-kun," Mina said. She glanced at the medic-nin and he took the message to step out for now. He closed the door behind him with a soft clack. She approached the patient who was crying now. Giant tears rolled down his chubby cheeks and too small face. She held him as he cried- broken and breathless sobs- and her heart went out to him. "You're safe now, Sasuke-kun. He's gone. He won't hurt you anymore. You're safe."

They kept him in the hospital longer than necessary to monitor his mental state. It seemed that Sasuke became agitated at the presence of grown men when he wasn't prepared for it, but he was fine in the presence of female personnel. Upon noticing this, the staff switched around their shifts so that only women would be tending to Sasuke at the beginning, but eventually they had to expose him to some male personnel to evaluate his reaction to them, to see if he was fit to be reintroduced to the village. To their relief, there was marked improvement in Sasuke's reaction to men.

As days passed and he became more orientated, Sasuke's mental health improved. His crying sessions with his designated nurse, Mina, seemed to contribute greatly to his improvement. In the first few days after he first awoke, Sasuke would often times stare off into space lost in thought, and then all of a sudden the waterworks would come on. At those moments, Mina would hold him as he cried and murmur gentle reassurances into his ear. "It's okay now." "You're safe." "He's gone." "It's not your fault." "It's all his fault. He was in the wrong." "He won't hurt you anymore." "You'll get through this." "You're a strong boy."

Eventually Uchiha Sasuke was discharged from the hospital, and he was escorted back to the Uchiha Compound by ANBU.

Upon arriving at the main house, Sasuke stood at the entrance as if lost and uncertain.

"Do I…" Sasuke licked his dry lips, "Do I have to live here?" He asked his ANBU escort.

ANBU Wolf knelt to the boy's level and informed him as gently as an on-duty ANBU could be, "The Hokage is willing to get you settled in an apartment outside of the Compound if you wish."

Sasuke bit his lip in hesitation. "No. No, I think I want to stay here… in the Uchiha Compound. Is there- is there an uninhabited house I may stay in?"

ANBU Wolf nodded and showed Sasuke the properties that were uninhabited before the massacre. Sasuke chose a moderate two-story house with a training field and an empty pond in the back. The ANBU helped Sasuke moved things in as directed, stocked the pantry and refrigerator, and generally did their best to help the boy get settled in.

"Is there anything else you require Sasuke-san?"

Sasuke shook his head. "Thank you," he murmured. If the boy's voice sounded a little shaky and uncertain, ANBU Wolf did not comment on it, instead he nodded and Body Flickered to a nearby tree to begin sitting watch over the Last Uchiha.

xxx

The ANBU kept a twenty-four hour watch over Sasuke in shifts. The ANBU watch was necessary to ensure that the Uchiha traitor did not come back to finish off the Last Loyal Uchiha, and to monitor the boy's mental state. Mostly they kept out of sight and relied on the telltale sign of a sudden spike in chakra to tell if the boy was distressed or relapsing. This served to provide the boy with some measure of privacy, but even when not directly observing, the ANBU was well aware of Uchiha Sasuke's activities.

For the first day, Sasuke did nothing but putter around his new home in a mindless sort of trance. He sorted through the objects in the house, skimmed through a few books and scrolls without focus, and made simple meals. Mostly, he just stared off into space in silent contemplation.

The second day was much of the same, except Sasuke went behind the house to putter in the training field instead of inside the house. When that got boring, he sat by the side of the empty pond and skipped stones half-heartedly. Eventually, he fell asleep while cloud gazing. After the sun had set, ANBU Cat carried him back inside.

The third day marked the beginning of change. Sasuke went far out to the edge of the training field. There, he dug a shallow hole and pulled out a stack of paper dolls from his pocket. There were scribbles written on each doll, but the scribbles were indecipherable without further analysis. Sasuke murmured under his breath as he burned the dolls one by one and sprinkled the ashes into the hole. He buried the ashes and piled stones on top of the freshly turned earth. Then he poured water from the pond over the stones, like he was cleaning them. Finally he gathered a bouquet of wildflowers and laid them before the stones.

Then… he cried.

On the fourth day, Sasuke began his day with a complicated set of stretches that required a great deal of flexibility. They weren't the standard Academy stretches or katas, so it was hard to imagine that his parents or maybe his brother might have taught it to him. Sasuke repeated the set of stretches three times and became a little more fluid each time. Then he cooked a decent sized breakfast.

He spent the rest of the morning scribbling in code in a diary. After lunch, he went out into the field. He tumbled around in the grass by himself, performing back flips and cartwheels. He climbed trees and leaped from them nimbly like a cat. He skipped around the field, did flips and spins in the air, and in general, looked like he was playing by himself. At the end of the serious of exercises, he was sweating and just slightly short on breath, which was to be expected of a serious clan child like Uchiha Sasuke. After dinner, he perused the books in his new study room, and fell asleep with a scroll in his hands.

Two days later, as Sasuke begins to show progressive signs of recovery, ANBU Wolf approached him at the behest of the Council.

"Sasuke-san, the Elders would like to know if you feel ready to return to the Academy at this time," the ANBU intoned.

The light that was beginning to return to the boy's face over the past few days dimmed and his eyes glazed over. Sasuke sniffed. "Will they force me to go if I say no?"

ANBU Wolf did not reply right away. When he did, it was in an unhesitant and monotonous voice, "I will rely whatever answer you wish to give to Hokage-sama himself. The final decision will be up to the Elders."

"I see…"

In a voice that was just slightly less emotionless than before, ANBU Wolf said, "Give your most honest answer, Sasuke-san. I'm sure Hokage-sama will be understanding of your circumstances."

Sasuke managed a partial smile. "Thank you, Wolf-san." The ANBU gave no reaction to the name. Sasuke took in a deep breath to fortify himself, "Please tell the Hokage I do not want to return to the Academy."

There was a note of finality in the boy's voice, but ANBU Wolf did not comment on it. There was no way that the Last Uchiha would be allowed to quit the Academy completely. But time, the time to heal, at least, can be afforded to the boy.

"As you wish, Sasuke-san."

Sasuke sighed like he dodged a kunai, but the relief was short lived. It is evident by the resigned look in his eyes that Sasuke knows he can't avoid the Academy forever.

xxx

A month later, Sasuke was as well adjusted as a boy who had witnessed the murder of his entire clan at the hands of his beloved elder brother can be. He woke up screaming and thrashing from nightmares every morning and he didn't speak much but it was more of a personal choice rather than a side effect of trauma.

Everyday Sasuke would set aside a chunk of time to jog and to perform his little self-play of tumbles and cartwheels in the training field. Asides from that, the rest of the day followed no particular pattern, Sasuke seemed to do whatever struck his fancy at the time. He'd read through the scrolls and books in his study with the fervid interest of a scientist whom had discovered a scintillating new species. He'd experiment with new recipes in the kitchen. He'd walk through the Compound, studying every house and alleyway, and salvaging seemingly random objects. When he felt like it- and when he needed groceries- he would stroll through the village and marketplace with no particular destination in mind.

Sasuke went around to all the training fields in Konoha, and was immediately taken by a field crowded with tall ancient trees. The training area, which was in effect a forest, was located close to the village's boundaries, which wasn't too far from the Uchiha Compound, and far away from the noise pollution of the main streets. Sasuke started to take his daily routine into that training field. This time he incorporated ninja wire.

He'd wind the ninja wire around the thick branches to form makeshift swings and then he'd flittered around the trees like a monkey. Sometimes he performed complicated aerial maneuvers that would give any mother a heart attack. When he had familiarized himself with the lay of the forest area, he would even go about his routine with his eyes closed. It was all very fascinating and confusing to witness.

Ninja wire came in many forms and had various uses. There were the thin, razor sharp ones that can behead a person, and then there were the thick, sturdy ones that didn't cut but were used for other purposes, such as setting traps. Sasuke used the latter type in his daily exercise, but ninja wire was still a weapon, an unforgiving tool. At the end of the day Sasuke would go home with calloused and bleeding hands, but he just bandaged them gingerly and continued on nonetheless.

It was during one of these romps in the forested training area that the incident happened.

Sasuke was swinging through the trees with his ninja wire. His hands were calloused enough that it didn't hurt quite so much anymore and his body was becoming more fluid with moving in a three dimensional space. Flitting through the treetops, Sasuke chanced upon three missing-nin huddled on the forest floor. Judging from their slashed forehead protectors they were once ninja of Kirigakure.

Sasuke was so shocked that he didn't react quickly enough. In retrospect, this training area was close to the village borders, so missing-nin trying to slip into the village through this area was not an improbability, though difficult and rare. He had the presence of mind to retrace his steps for help or to hide in the canopy and perhaps eavesdrop, but the missing-nin spotted him before he could commit to either action and he was brought down. He tried to resist, but the three grown ninja had him pinned and tied in a flash.

As they towered over him, fear entered Sasuke's eyes and he began to shake. His pupils dilated and he fought to remain coherent even as his mind threatened to retreat into murky memories.

"Hey, look at the emblem on his back. Isn't he the one we came for?"

"Uchiha," another one sneered.

"Say, have you activated your Sharingan yet boy?"

Foreign hands grabbed him by the face and tried to prod at his eyes. He thrashed as his eyes slipped in and out of focus, caught in a time between present and past. His screams for help were muffled behind a gag.

A string of silver glittered in the dappled sunlight. Ninja wire wrapped around a missing-nin's neck and pulled taut. The flesh constricted, pressure built until the skin caved in and blood spurted out. Warm red liquid splattered over Sasuke's face and chest.

Everything went still and then battle erupted in the next second. The body of a fourth missing-nin dropped to the forest ground. Dead. Two Leaf ANBU leaped in to engage the missing-nin. Their masks proclaimed them as Wolf and Boar.

The fight that ensued was bloody and quick. Sasuke couldn't follow the action, and even if he could, he didn't want to. He paid enough attention to know when to roll out of the way, but for the most part, he tried to block out the violence, the blood, and the death.

There was a fifth missing-nin that managed to get the drop on the ANBU, leading to Wolf getting a nasty slash diagonally across the collarbone, and Boar receiving a kunai to the calf. While the ANBU was distracted, one of the missing-nin threw Sasuke over her shoulder like a sack of potatoes. Her companion threw down a smoke bomb and the two missing-nin escaped from Konoha with the Last Uchiha.

* * *

Author's Note (5/29/18): For those of you who are more open minded about romance, I should specify that the Sasuke x Multi tag won't take over the story, and the original focus of this story was meant to be family and friendship. But I've had too many complaints that the way I portray a certain male friendship is gay or disgusting (all anonymous comments btw that I've already deleted). So I've seriously decided to just make the entire thing gay and rainbow and happy.

My primary focus is still on the development of the characters' relationships as family and comrades first before romance partners, but there might be a lot of romantic undertones or ship teasing as some might call it.


	2. Chapter 2

Genre: Family, Friendship, Drama, Humor

* * *

Chapter 2

The Line Between Living and Dead

Uzumaki Naruto was walking through the marketplace with his head bowed, as if doing so could shield him from all the harsh whispers and glares. He wouldn't even have come to the marketplace if he didn't need to buy groceries for the week. As he trudged through the main street with a frown on his face, he passed by a stand with a rack of porcelain masks on display.

Naruto was instantly drawn to a mask that was created in the image of a fox. He thought it reminded him of the masks that the nice ninja who protect him from the shadows wore. His feet stalled as he stopped to admire the mask, and without conscious thought he reached out a hand to touch the fox mask on the snout.

Immediately the shop owner was bearing down on him with a broom. "Don't touch my merchandise with your filthy hands, you little monster!" He swatted at Naruto's hand with the broom. Naruto flinched. His hand brushed the mask causing it to drop from the display. The man took another swipe at Naruto with his broom, and Naruto hightailed away.

He wiped at his eyes angrily as he ran. He would not cry. He didn't do anything wrong. Naruto ran until he was far from the marketplace. He took a breather at a desolated park. There was a dried up fountain in the middle of the park. He climbed into the white stone structure and curled his small body up against the side of the fountain. Unless someone got close enough, they wouldn't be able to see him sitting inside the fountain.

Inside the fountain, surrounded by a stone barrier, Naruto focused the force of his glare at the cracked stone statue situated in the middle of the fountain. The statue used to spout water, but not anymore. Like the rest of the park, it was dried up and lifeless.

Naruto kicked at the fountain's base and cursed at his life. He didn't understand it. Why was he born to live such a horrible life? What had he done to make the villagers hate him so much?

"Why are you sitting inside the fountain by yourself?" A soft, melodic voice questioned him. The voice came from directly behind him.

Naruto let out a shrill yelp. He simultaneously turned around to face the speaker and shuffled backwards away from the person. He stopped scuttling backwards on his bum when his brain registered the speaker. It was a young child, his age. Just one child, Naruto thought, if things got nasty he was strong enough to defend himself from one brat.

The child had an inquisitive and half-amused look on its cherubic face. Soft black hair framed the genderless face in long strands and a short tail of hair was tied at the nape of the neck. The child wore a simple white high-collared t-shirt and white shorts. Bandages were wrapped around the child's small hands.

"Wha- what? Who?"

The child smiled, clearly amused, "I asked what were you doing in the fountain by yourself."

"None of your business!" Naruto declared, defensively. He didn't like the smile on the kid's face. When people were amused, it was usually at his expense.

"Oh," the smile dropped and the child looked thoughtful for a brief moment. "I suppose you're right. Pardon me for asking."

Par- what? Naruto had no idea what that word meant. Was the kid mocking him? Before Naruto could give the brat a piece of his mind, the kid pulled out something from behind and presented it to Naruto.

"Here. You dropped this."

It was the porcelain fox mask.

"Huh? It's not mine."

"Well, the shopkeeper wouldn't take it back, so I assume it must not be his anymore. And if it's not his, then it must belong to you now." With that leap of logic, the child nodded as if to end the discussion, and then the child placed the mask in the fountain like an offering, handling it with both hands.

The child stood up and picked up a giant brown bag full of groceries. "I must be going. I only came to return the mask to you. You take care now." When the child turned to go Naruto could clearly see the red and white fan embroidered on the back of the shirt.

"Oh." The child paused and rummaged in the brown bag a bit. "Here!" The child tossed him a small wax lined baggie. Naruto caught the little white bag. It was warm. "Steamed pork bun from the Fukui Teahouse. It's good." Then the child smiled. The sunlight hit the child just so and reflected off of the white clothing, making the child appear to glow. It was like rainbows, sparkles, and blooming flowers. Naruto thought it was the most beautiful thing he had ever seen in his short miserable life.

Naruto sat there in the cold stone fountain with a warm bun in his hands completely flabbergasted. When his brain regained coherency that beautiful child was long gone.

The bread had gone cold by the time Naruto decided to try it. He knew better than to accept food from strangers, but he couldn't bring himself to just throw away what looked to be perfectly good food and he didn't smell anything wrong with the bun either. Eventually he gave into temptation and took a hesitant bite of the bun. A lump formed in his throat. It wasn't due to the pork bun; even cold the pork bun was still good. He realized that he hadn't asked the name of the child and wondered if he would ever meet that kind person again.

The latter half of the pork bun was flavored with salty tears, but Naruto had never tasted such a delicious bun. And when he didn't get sick from the bread later that day, Naruto felt a flutter of hope in his chest; hope that the kindness freely given was real.

xxx

The red and white uchiwa fan was the emblem of the Uchiha clan. They served as Konoha's police force and lived in a special compound just like all the other clans in Konoha. They used to prowl the streets of Konoha, keeping the peace, but as of late, not a single Uchiha has been seen in the village's main proper. Naruto fumed at that. He had planned to find an Uchiha and tail them home to their compound. From there it would only be a matter of time before he tracked down that child with the pork bun.

It took some snooping and dreaded researching, but eventually Naruto found the location of the Uchiha Compound. It was situated on the outskirts of the village, far from the Hokage Tower. When he arrived at the Uchiha gates he expected to be cursed at and chased away, instead he found opened gates and not a soul in sight.

Naruto tiptoed through the Compound with his shoulders hunched up, as if doing so could protect him from the eerie quietness of the place. Did the glowing white child with the pork bun really live in this desolate place? There were absolutely no signs of life.

"What are you doing here?"

"AHHHH!" Naruto screamed. He backpedaled away from the ANBU that suddenly appeared before him. "What are _you_ doing here?" He demanded instead. The ANBU did not answer. Naruto squinted at the falcon mask but could not read the face under the porcelain mask at all. He huffed. "I'm looking for... a Uchiha," Naruto finished lamely. He kicked himself mentally for not asking the child's name.

"There is no Uchiha in this compound now. All that's left are ghosts."

"Ghosts…?"

"Leave," the ANBU commanded and disappeared in a puff of smoke.

Choosing not to heed the ANBU's words, Naruto returned to the Compound consecutively for a week. He scoured the Compound from front to end, but it was as the ANBU had said. There were no signs of life.

Naruto shuddered and frowned.

Was Pork Bun really a ghost?

* * *

Author's Note: For now, this story is being told from POVs outside of Sasuke, so the reader will have to extrapolate from the context how much Sasuke actually knows about the Naruto-verse and what are his plans for his new life there or if he even has any. Of course, things often happen outside of his expectations (like kidnapping) so his plans will have to constantly change to adapt. Likely, by the end of it all, Sasuke's plans will look nothing like his original intentions. I also won't divulge his past life in full detail, but there will be hints of it based on his actions and reactions.

Story Recommendation: The Yondaime's Assistant by DianaMoth here on fanfiction. net. The OC protagonist is wonderful in this one. She's spunky, has strong morals, and is mentally healthy. She also takes a different route than the usual ninja one of joining a team and becoming strong. This story also touches on depression and the beginning process of healing from it, which I found to be really moving. The writer handles the subject matter and the characters involved with a delicate touch. It's a great ongoing read, so go give it a try. (Drop the writer a review, and let them know I sent you. Haha. Just kidding. But seriously, go read it.)


	3. Chapter 3

Author's Note: For the guess reviewer who kindly offered to edit my story, thank you, but I am not looking for a beta at the moment. My updating schedule is sporadic at best and it would be too confusing for me to juggle a beta, too. That being said, I would still appreciate whatever constructive criticism the readers may have. If there's something wrong with my grammar or syntax please feel free to let me know in a review or a message. As long as you're not trying to flay me with the fires of hell I will receive your suggestions with an open mind.

* * *

Chapter 3

Breaking Down the Lines

Kimimaro sat in his little man-made burrow and looked up at the world through the bone white bars he constructed. His entire clan was dead and he did not know what to do. When his clan was alive, he was always kept inside a cage- much like this one- until they had need of his powers in battle. Only then would he be let out of the cage. Kimimaro hated fighting, but he hated the cage even more. So he would fight. He would fight and kill and bleed for his clan if it meant proving his worth and leaving that cage.

But now his entire clan is dead, and he didn't know what to do.

He had made this cage and holed himself up in it because it was familiar. If he wasn't fighting then he belonged in a cage. That was what his clan had always said. But now they were dead and there was no one to tell him such things, or give him orders.

He didn't know what to do.

He knew he would have to leave eventually. If he stayed in the cage without food he would die, but for now he tried to find comfort in the familiar. Sometimes he wondered if he waited long enough, thought hard enough, or searched far enough, maybe he would find out what his new purpose should be.

Light footsteps approached. By the time he registered the sound a shadow had fallen over his form. He looked up, and passed the bone bars there knelt a boy all dressed in white. He looked ragged and worn and his clothes were stained with blood and dirt, but he was smiling gently down at Kimimaro and the sunlight outlined him from behind like an ethereal glow.

"I found you," the boy said, his voice gentle and lilting.

Kimimaro's breath caught.

The boy was beautiful.

"Why are you in this… place?" The boy asked.

"My clan is dead. I have nowhere to go," Kimimaro found himself admitting.

The boy frowned. Kimimaro hated to see the smile go. No one had ever smiled so benignly at him before. All the smiles he saw before were full of teeth and bloodlust.

"I see…" the boy murmured to himself. "I think I understand now." Then to Kimimaro he said, "If you have no clan and nowhere to go then join me. Become my brother and I will bestow my clan's name unto you." He held out a hand to Kimimaro, extending it through the bars. "Are you willing to be my brethren?"

Kimimaro's eyes widened in disbelief. The sunlight seemed to shine even brighter around the boy with those words. Could this be god's answer to his prayer? Is this his new purpose now?

He reached out to take the outstretched hand, and as he did so the bone bars became brittle and he easily broke free of the cage. The hand in his was warm and calloused, and so small but firm.

"My name is Uchiha Sasuke. What is your name?"

"…Kimimaro. U- Uchiha Kimimaro."

Sasuke looked surprised at first and Kimimaro wondered if he was too audacious in assuming the boy's name, but before Kimimaro could apologize for his transgression Sasuke smiled at him, gentle and warm, and Kimimaro wished he would just keep on smiling at him like that all the time.

"Welcome to the family, Kimimaro."

Kimimaro's face felt warm and strange. Later he would learn that he was blushing and that his lips were smiling without his knowledge.

Kimimaro followed Sasuke into a thicket of trees. Nestled in the hollow of an old tree was a little boy, no more than four years of age. The boy had purple hair cut into a blunt bob and rust colored eyes.

"Ranmaru, I found him," Sasuke announced. Ranmaru, the purple-haired boy smiled. He looked frail and weak. Sasuke then introduced the two of them.

"Is he part of… o- our clan, too?" Kimimaro wondered.

"Ah… it's not quite like that," Sasuke replied. "I found Ranmaru when his village was in the midst of kicking him out and decided to bring him back to Konoha with me. As we were traveling Ranmaru suddenly… well, he sensed something and he told me-"

"You will find what you need in a burrow one click east of here," Ranmaru recited.

"Ranmaru has a unique ability," Sasuke explained.

"Find what you need…" Kimimaro repeated. He turned to Sasuke with hopeful eyes, "You _need_ me?"

"Well, ah, yes. It would be helpful to have another fighter in the group. I'm being chased by missing-nin and Ranmaru can't defend himself."

"I understand, Sasuke-sama. I, Uchiha Kimimaro, will be your sword and your shield, from henceforth until the day I die."

Sasuke looked truly flustered. "That's not what I meant." At Kimimaro's straightforward stare, Sasuke blinked and then adopted a somber expression. "As clansmen we guard each other's back. I will protect you, as you will protect me."

Kimimaro bowed. "I am honored, Sasuke-sama."

The flustered tone was back. "Ah, please, just Sasuke is fine."

"As you wish, Sasuke-sama."

Sasuke blinked at Kimimaro, at a lost for words.

"I didn't know Kimimaro was your clansmen," Ranmaru spoke up. "What a co-in-ci-dence." He pronounced the word carefully as children are wont to do when they learn new words.

Sasuke smiled. "Actually, we became family just now."

 _Family._

Kimimaro marveled at the word.

"Huh? I don't understand. How did you become family if you weren't born in the same family?" Ranmaru asked.

Sasuke knelt down and petted Ranmaru's hair. "Family comes in many forms, Ranmaru. You have your biological family, um, that's your blood related family, and then you have the family that you make as you create ties with people."

"Oh. I see." Ranmaru got silent as he went deep in thought.

"Anyways," Sasuke addressed both of them, "we shouldn't stay in one place for too long. I… I killed one of the missing-nin, but there's still one more after me and she might recruit more people to hunt me down."

"You killed one of them," Kimimaro looked Sasuke up and down, he did not seem to be carrying any weapon, "with what may I ask?"

Sasuke pulled out a spool of ninja wire from his pocket. "I strangled him." He smiled sardonically.

Kimimaro didn't much like the smile on Sasuke's face at the moment. It looked like he was hurting somehow. "Were you injured?"

Sasuke looked shocked and vaguely sick by the question but before he could answer Ranmaru tugged on his hand.

"Hey, hey. Can I join your family, too?"

"Huh?"

"Well, Kimimaro-san did it, and you've known him for a shorter time than me right? So shouldn't I be able to join your family, too? I've known you for longer," Ranmaru reasoned. Such is the logic of a child. Sasuke wanted to say that quality time is more important than quantity time when it comes to establishing bonds, but at the stubborn set of Ranmaru's mouth Sasuke gave up that battle for a lost cause before even beginning it.

He ruffled Ranmaru's hair. "Sure, Ranmaru. You can join the family, too."

The purple-haired child grinned. "So now I'm Uchiha Ranmaru, right? Right?"

Sasuke chuckled, "If you insist. Welcome to the family, Ranmaru."

Ranmaru beamed at him.

Sasuke stood up. "Let's be on our way. We have a long way to go and frankly I have no idea how to get back to Konoha. We will need to procure a map first."

"That means we need to find a town or a village," Kimimaro inputted.

"Yes."

* * *

Story Recommendation: The Medic by Aoi24 here on fanfiction. net. It is a Naruto fan fiction where Sasuke decides to pursue a path of healing instead of vengeance after the massacre. It's very well written with great character depth and development is wonderful. I recommend you go and show that fic some love. The writer hasn't updated the story in a long time but it's still worth reading and there are 38 chapters of content to enjoy.

If anyone knows of any good Sasuke fanfic like The Medic or any good OC!Sasuke fanfic then please feel free to recommend them to me.


	4. Chapter 4

Author's Note: I followed the Naruto anime, not the manga. That's why you have an anime only character like Ranmaru pop up. (Please note that I did not find the explanation of Ranmaru's powers very clear, and it's been a while since I last saw that episode, so if anything seems weird, let's just say canon was vague and row with it please.)

* * *

Chapter 4

Lines of Red

Karin was trudging away from her little village. Early that morning she had woke with a start when she felt huge groups of people amassing on the village. She tried to warn the family that took her in, but they told her to "stop lying," "stop trying to seek attention," and to "get back to work."

So with the excuse of going to fetch water from the river, Karin had packed what little she had, took the money from under the floorboards- hey, dead people don't need money- and left. She felt no remorse for leaving the villagers to their doom. Sure, they took pity on the little orphan girl and took her into the village, but no one really cared about her. Her adopted family only took her in to show the villagers how nice they were, but the couple had three children of their own and absolutely no time for her. The children in the village were terrible too. They picked on her, the outsider, and laughed at her bright hair color, calling it an eyesore. Red hair was common where she came from, but none of these stupid outsiders knew how to appreciate the beauty of her people.

Karin felt three people coming her way. They probably won't bother her if she kept her head down but just to be on the safe side, Karin made her way to the wooden bridge standing over a brook and hid under it. She'll just wait for them to pass and then continue on her way. As they drew near she heard one of them said, "The village should be close. He said it wouldn't be too far once we reach the brook." They lapsed into silence and Karin held her breath as they crossed the bridge. Suddenly she felt something sharp pressing against her neck.

"Don't make any sudden movements," a low voice intoned into her ear. The voice was pitched low, but she could tell it belonged to a child. That was hardly any comfort though, considering many children became ninjas when they were young. "Put your hands above your head and come out of hiding."

Karin wondered if she was going to be robbed. She followed the instructions and soon found herself standing on one end of the bridge instead of under it. She studied the three people before her. The one threatening her with a sharp white stick of some sort had white hair, green eyes, and red markings on his face. He had a rather severe look on his face for a child. She was surprised to see a young child with purple hair and rust colored eyes present. He looked thin and frail, hardly intimidating at all.

The final person in the group was a boy with a face thinned from hunger and travel, but still looked pleasing to the eye. She would've called him cute, but the mark of hunger and travel left him with a hauntingly beautiful look instead. There was a cut on the right side of his face that looked to be in the process of healing. He was dressed in once white clothes. And his chakra. Oh god, his chakra! It was dazzling and beautiful, just like the boy himself. There was an undercurrent of something sad and lonely in his chakra, and Karin found herself wanting to remove that burden from him, to witness the full brunt of his dazzling chakra.

"Now what is a pretty young lady like you doing, spying on our group?" Dazzling Chakra asked her.

"You think I'm pretty?"

"Answer the question," Somber Face said.

"I wasn't! I wasn't spying on you. I was just hiding until you guys passed by."

"She's telling the truth," Frail Boy said.

Dazzling Chakra nodded to Somber Face and Somber Face removed his weapon slowly from her neck.

"I heard you were heading to the village near here," Karin said.

"Yes."

"Don't go. It's already been burned down by now." Dazzling Chakra gave her a look that said "go on," and so she explained, "I came from that village. I fled because I felt a bunch of people coming. It's the war. My village will just become another casualty of war."

"War?"

"Yes. There's something big going on in Kirigakure, a revolt I think, and it's affecting the small villages in the area."

"Kirigakure," Dazzling Chakra murmured. "I see. Thank you for telling us." Then he smiled. Karin blushed as red as her hair.

"Um," she fidgeted with her shirt, "What's your name?"

"Sasuke."

"Sasuke…" she repeated. Her heart thumped.

"These are my companions, Ranmaru and Kimimaro."

Karin barely noticed Kimimaro giving her a dead fish stare and Ranmaru bowing politely.

"My name's Karin."

"It's nice to meet you, Karin-san." Another smile. Oh, she could die happy right now. "We must be on our way now. We still have need of a map, and it looks like this village is a miss."

"Oh, I have a map," Karin offered. She quickly pulled it out from her pack. "We're right here," she pointed.

Sasuke seemed shocked by her forthrightness, but nonetheless leaned forward to study the map. She took a long deep whiff of his smell. Ahh, he smelled so nice. Kimimaro noticed and glared at her. She turned her nose up at him.

"Would it be all right if I buy this map from you?" Sasuke asked. "I don't have much money but-"

"Oh, just take it."

"Ahh… Thank you." A hesitant smile. Karin sighed blissfully.

"Can I come with you? I wandered around Kiri a bit before settling down at my old village, so I know some parts of the land. And now that my village is burned down I have nowhere else to go," Karin said in earnest.

"Back off," Kimimaro stuck an arm between Karin and Sasuke. She had not noticed that she was leaning forward so much. Sasuke was starting to look uncomfortable. She pouted but backed off. Sasuke breathed a sigh of relief.

He studied her and seemed to be thinking about her request. She clasped her hands together and tried to look as earnest and helpful as she could. Finally he settled on a decision. "All right," he said haltingly. "I'm not sure where you want to go from here, but we're heading to Konoha. We can travel together if it's along the way for you."

"Oh, it's totally along the way," Karin assured him.

"Well then… it seems we have a new companion," he said to his friends. "Welcome to the group," he told her.

She sighed again, an amorous smile on her face.

xxx

They were taking lunch break by a river when Sasuke commented, "Were you originally from Uzushiogakure?"

"How did you guess? I am part of the Uzumaki clan," Karin said.

"Ah, I thought so. Your red hair, it's a common trait of the Uzumaki, or so I've heard."

Karin grew self-conscious as she fiddled with the ends of her hair. "Is it weird?"

"Huh?"

"My red hair. I mean, it's so bright and red and stuff. It's an eyesore, don't you think so?"

Sasuke tilted his head in confusion, "I think it's a lovely color. It's uncommon in Konoha."

Karin flushed to the tips of her ears. "Y- You really think so?"

"There is someone with the name of Uzumaki in Konoha." Sasuke said, completely bulldozing over her question, but she didn't care. He called her lovely. Well, her hair, but… same difference. "It would be nice if the two of you could meet and become friends."

"There is an Uzumaki in Konoha? I always knew we couldn't all be dead, I mean, _I'm_ still here. But when Uzushiogakure was attacked only a few of us survived and we all scattered. I didn't think I would ever find another one of my clan."

The smile on Sasuke's face was wistful and faraway. "I think he would be happy to meet you, too."

"Hey, Sasuke-kun. How did you get this wound?" Karin reached out a hand to brush against the thin vertical cut that ran from mid-cheek to jaw line on the right side of Sasuke's face.

Sasuke caught her hand gently before she could touch his scar, and she blushed at their joined hands.

"It's my fault," both Kimimaro and Ranmaru said at once.

"Onii-sama was trying to protect me from that missing-nin and got hurt," Ranmaru sniffed.

"It was my fault. I couldn't protect Sasuke-sama in time," Kimimaro said, contrite.

"If anything, it was my fault for not training hard enough. Don't blame yourselves. And Kimimaro you took care of the missing-nin, so now we don't have to worry about her following our trail."

"Onii-sama."

"Sasuke-sama."

Sasuke sweatdropped. "And I told you two to drop the honorifics. Just Sasuke is fine."

Karin swooned. Sasuke was so noble and magnanimous. Not to mention he was still holding her hand. Oh, never mind, he just dropped it. "Can I drop the honorifics, too?" Karin ventured. Kimimaro glared at her. Sasuke opened his mouth, but Karin held up a hand to stop him from answering. "Kyaa! What am I saying? I was being too forward." Karin buried her face in her hands. Even her neck was blushing this time.

Personally, Sasuke didn't care if everyone forgo honorifics, it would make everything so much easier, but he had a feeling dropping the honorifics this early in the stage with Karin would be a Bad Idea. He took the out that Karin gave him and shut his mouth.

Karin rolled up her sleeve and offered Sasuke her arm. "I can heal the cut for you. It looks like a relatively new wound so this should work. If you bite down on me I can transfer my chakra to you and heal all your injuries."

Sasuke's brow rose, "That sounds like an advanced technique. What are the drawbacks?"

"Drawbacks?" Ranmaru piped up.

Sasuke nodded, "A technique that can heal all wounds at once must have some side effect for the user."

"You don't have to worry about me," Karin said.

Sasuke shook his head. "Thank you for offering, but I'm afraid I will have to decline. I am not grievously injured. As a ninja a little scarring is nothing. I won't have you suffer for a vanity project."

Karin couldn't hold it back anymore. She launched herself at Sasuke and glomped him to her chest. "Oh, how can you be so wonderful?" She squealed.

"Karin-san, unhand Sasuke-sama this moment!" Kimimaro prided her off.

Sasuke was beet red. He looked so cute that Karin just wanted to grab him again.

The scar wasn't that bad. In fact, it made Sasuke look a little dangerous, which in turn translated to cool. Yeah, Karin could learn to like that scar. Not to mention every time she sees it now she will remember this moment.

* * *

Author's Note: Since I stopped watching Naruto after the part where Chiyo revives Gaara, the characterization of characters that shows up after that point (i.e. Karin) is from reading Naruto Wiki, so excuse the inconsistencies if the character seems out of character, because I wrote them based on my impression from reading a text description of their personality. You could also say that the difference between the character's canon age and their age in this fan fiction contributes to differences in their personality.


	5. Chapter 5

.

Chapter 5

The Boundary Line

They were taking a well-needed break. With Ranmaru's weak health, it wasn't a surprise that they would need to stop often. Even taking turns carrying the small child can still be taxing for their underdeveloped bodies; hence they were taking a break.

Kimimaro was keeping a look out while Ranmaru took a light nap. Sasuke was molding chakra and Karin was watching Sasuke mold chakra. It was so tantalizing to feel the chakra moving actively through Sasuke's body. Sasuke frowned in concentration. The chakra was moving sluggishly through his body.

"What are you doing Sasuke-kun?" Karin asked.

"I'm trying to perform the Clone Technique, but I can't seem to get my chakra to cooperate. I've read the theory on it," Sasuke said.

"Your chakra is stuck, and you're pulling too much yin energy and not enough yang energy," Karin supplied.

"What?"

"Can't you feel it?" Than Karin shook her head, remembering that sensing chakra did not come as easily to others as it did to her.

She walked up to Sasuke and mapped out the flow of chakra in his body with her finger. "Can you feel it? Your energy is running smoothly from here to here," she ran her finger along his body, "but it gets caught up here," she pressed lightly at the spot. "What you need to do is…" And Karin explained to Sasuke how to direct the flow of chakra. She can sense a lot more yin energy in Sasuke than yang energy, no doubt he's a scholar, but his yang energy is nothing to be scoffed at either. His reserves are quite large for a boy his age. There is a reason she found his chakra dazzling.

With Karin's guidance, Sasuke coaxed his chakra to do his bidding. His first couple of attempts was laughable. They came out colorless and flopped to the ground like rice paper. It was even worse than Naruto's blotched attempts. Sasuke blushed and kept trying. Internally, Karin was cooing at how cute a determined Sasuke looked.

Behind Sasuke's back Kimimaro was giving her the stink eye. He did not miss the fact that Karin took advantage of the guise of helping Sasuke to touch him all over with her finger. Sasuke didn't even seem to realize he was molested. He was so unguarded that it made Karin purr with devious ideas.

By the time the group made it to Kiri's border, Sasuke had perfected both the Cloning Technique and the Transformation Technique. The Substitution Technique was still proving to be tricky, but Sasuke was determined to master it and Karin knows he will.

Using the Henge, the group, sans Ranmaru, transformed and posed as a family trying to escape from the war ravaged land. Sasuke and Karin were the parents, Kimimaro was their mute son, and Ranmaru was their sickly baby boy. Karin spun a sob story so well that the fishermen agreed to ferry them to the Land of Fire for only a small fee.

Once they landed and were out of earshot of the fishermen, they dropped their Henge and Sasuke praised Karin for her ingenuity. She blushed and clung to his arm. Sasuke tried to unravel her arms from around him, but she clung on like a limpet until Kimimaro forcibly pulled her away. Sasuke sighed and then he stilled when he noticed the color of Ranmaru's eyes. They were glowing bright red.

"What do you see?" Sasuke asked.

"In a cave, nature calls. The beast awaits a firm lock and cage. Two clicks northwest." Ranmaru pointed. The glow faded from his eyes and he dropped his arm.

"Well, it's along the way. Can't hurt to take a look." Sasuke thought out loud.

"What _was_ that?" Karin demanded.

Sasuke placed his hands on Ranmaru's shoulders in a supportive and protective gesture. "Ranmaru has a special gift. It's hard to explain. Even Ranmaru himself doesn't seem to know the full extent of his abilities. But he's been very helpful in our journey, helping us find useful things and avoiding unnecessary conflict."

Ranmaru blushed under Sasuke's praise.

"Oh," Karin shrugged.

"I've told Kimimaro this, but I'll ask this of you, too, please keep Ranmaru's abilities a secret. I don't want people trying to hunt him down to dissect his eyes." Here Sasuke touched the corner of his eye subconsciously. "Even within Konoha proper, you must keep quiet about this. Unlike us, Ranmaru doesn't yet know how to defend himself."

"I won't crack even under extreme torture," Karin promised, thumping a fist to her chest.

Sasuke didn't know how to respond to such a statement with words so he just smiled, which was more than enough for Karin.

xxx

By the time they reached the cave that Ranmaru saw, it was already getting dark, so they set up camp. Tomorrow, they will search for the beast. They each split up to do their part. Ranmaru picked up firewood, Kimimaro foraged for edible fruit, Sasuke went fishing, and Karin tracked a rabbit.

Sasuke used his Great Fireball Technique to light the campfire. He's been practicing it with Karin's help. It helped that the body seemed to remember the technique, but what he was able to produce wasn't all that great yet, although in this case it was perfect for a campfire. After dinner, they set up a watch schedule and fell asleep.

Karin was on watch when she heard a groaning coming from Sasuke. He was shifting in his sleep and making tortured sounds. She's been noticing it for a while now; it's hard not to after traveling together for two weeks.

At first she would shake him awake and demand to know what's wrong so that she can make it go away, but he would never give her a straight answer. She suspected that the missing-nin they talked about was his first kill. It was normal to have nightmares for a length of time after the first kill. Karin would know. She couldn't have escaped from Uzushiogakure and made it all the way deep into the Land of Mist by keeping her hands clean. Come to think of it, maybe that was another reason why the villagers segregated her. They were all simple farmers; none of them have killed anything bigger than a pig. But she digresses.

Sasuke's problem seemed to stem deeper than that. At the very least, the first kill was only one of his many problems. And while she could talk him through how to work pass that first kill, she couldn't do much more than be there for him and allow him to sort out the rest himself since he doesn't want to tell. Kimimaro was no help in this area. He was bred to kill and have been desensitized to it for so long. Ranmaru was out of the question. Even though Ranmaru already knew, Sasuke still refrained from talking about killing in front of him. It was sweet how Sasuke tried to protect the boy's innocence. It wouldn't last forever, but they'll take what they can get.

Sasuke lashed out sharply with his leg in his sleep. The motion jolted him awake. At the same time Karin felt the beast move. It was running away. Sasuke was about to roll over and attempt to sleep again.

"Sasuke-kun," she whispered sharply. He sat up, alert. "The beast is on the move, about a half kilometer that way." She pointed.

He nodded. "Guard Ranmaru. I'll be back." He tapped Kimimaro on the shoulder. "Come with me."

"Wait, Sasuke-kun!" She hissed, but he was gone, flitting off into the night like a shadow. Karin was still amazed by his speed. In an area with trees and a bit of ninja wire, it would be difficult to outrun Sasuke.

Kimimaro spared Karin a brief look before chasing after Sasuke. If he didn't have such a straight face on, Karin would swear that he was sneering down at her, as if to say "Ha! He asked me to go, not you." Karin stomped her foot and fumed.

xxx

Juugo was alerted to the group's presence as soon as they arrived. The animals informed him. At first he thought they were just travelers and would move on soon, but then they decided to camp at the base of his mountain. A little more spy work, credit to his animal friends, and he deduced that they were here for him. Which was absurd, because he haven't left his cave in ages and no one should be aware of his existence. Still, just to play it safe, he decided to relocate when the group fell asleep. He couldn't chance the group stumbling upon him by accident. He was simply too volatile to be around humans.

He didn't expect that he would walk right into one of them. It was a young boy, three years his junior, with hair so dark that it melted into the night and made his face stand out in stark contrast. A thin cut ran down the right side of his face.

"S- Stay away from me. It's not safe." Juugo warned.

The boy advanced forward.

"I'm warning you!"

"I'm perfectly safe," the boy said.

"I said stay back!" Juugo took a swipe at the boy to scare him off. Already a bit of black was bleeding onto his skin from anxiety.

Suddenly a length of diamond hard bones was wrapped around his body, preventing him from moving. His fist stopped just short of hitting the dark-haired boy's face. Another boy stepped out from the shadows. The moonlight reflected off the newcomer's pale skin and white hair. The red markings on his face seemed to be giving off an eerie glow. This boy was older, probably only a year his junior.

Juugo was so surprised that someone could restrain him that he was speechless.

"See," the younger boy said, "Perfectly safe." He hadn't batted an eyelid when Juugo charged at him. Just who was this kid?

"Kimimaro, you may release him now," the boy said.

"But, Sasuke-sama…"

"It's fine, you're here."

So the boy's name was Sasuke. Kimimaro released Juugo and Juugo retracted his fist. The black receded a bit but it lingered at the corner of his eye just waiting to spread and take over his body.

"What do you want?" Juugo asked. Kimimaro was the one with the power to stop him, yet for some reason he deferred to this boy called Sasuke.

Sasuke took another step forward. That was another step too close to danger. "Well, for starters, Ranmaru seems to want you."

"Ran- what?"

"So I'm here to talk to you."

Juugo deduced that this kid was bonkers. He seemed to be aware of Juugo's berserker tendencies yet had the gall to approach him for a talk?

"I heard of a beast hiding out in the caves. A gentle beast with a bit of a… rage problem," Sasuke said, confirming Juugo's suspicions, but Juugo still had no idea how the boy knew. Perhaps there was a survivor from his village who told the boy about him.

"How-"

"Do not interrupt me," Sasuke said with such command in his voice that it gave Juugo pause. "Now, as I was saying," Sasuke continued amiably, "You seem to be having a bit of problem controlling your temper, so I'm here to offer you an exchange." Juugo waited for him to continue. Sasuke's lip quirked into a half smile. "You're learning already." Despite the baiting tone, Juugo felt no rage at the tease. "Come with me, turn your rage into my shield, and I will be your lock and cage."

"I don't understand." Juugo whispered, hardly believing this. Can this boy really give him a lock for his rage? It's impossible. That's why the people of his village died. _No one_ can control his rage, not even himself.

Sasuke stepped into his personal space. Juugo twitched and so did Kimimaro, but Sasuke remained firm and unyielding. He pressed two fingers against Juugo's forehead.

"Focus on my touch. Your rage is receding, see?"

Remarkably, the black ink on his skin dissolved at Sasuke's proclamation.

"This is the lock. Now remember this point well. Rage simmers in you always, but the secret is to temper that rage under your control and wield it as a shield, not a sword. You will learn this lesson well."

Sasuke dropped his hand from Juugo's forehead to his shoulder. "My name is Uchiha Sasuke. What is your name?"

"Juugo…"

Sasuke nodded, "From henceforth I take you into my heart and home. Welcome to the family, Juugo. You will never be alone now."

Juugo's eyes widened.

"Now come, Ranmaru is eager to meet you." Sasuke showed Juugo his back and began walking. Kimimaro trailed after him.

Juugo could still feel the lingering warmth of Sasuke's hand on him. "You mentioned a cage. Where is that?" Juugo asked. He's not sure what power Sasuke wielded over him to dampen his rage, but it wouldn't hurt to have a back up plan, a place to lock Juugo in just in case he went berserk.

Sasuke turned around and smile guilelessly. The moon shone on his face, highlighting that scar. Sasuke touched his fist to his heart. "Your cage is right here."

Juugo is not sure he understood, but those words must have touched his heart somehow, because his feet instinctually began to follow Sasuke.


	6. Chapter 6

.

Chapter 6

Crossing Lines

Although Ranmaru was a frail child, his stamina had been building day by day ever since he met Sasuke. Each day he would walk a little longer. Today he walked up front with Karin and the group's latest addition, Juugo. Juugo was immediately taken by Ranmaru and the two hit it off well. Karin was still leery of Juugo, which was just as well, because when Sasuke asked her to stay close to Juugo to keep an eye on him, she did not have an excuse to refuse.

Sasuke and Kimimaro trailed behind because Sasuke had sensed questions weighing on Kimimaro's mind since the night before.

"What's on your mind?"

"…It's nothing, Sasuke-sama."

Sasuke huffed, "We're family now, are we not, Uchiha Kimimaro?" It was still weird to say the Uchiha name, but Sasuke shrugged it off.

Kimimaro straightened at the name.

"You can talk to me about anything. Ask me anything. I can't promise to answer all of your questions, but I can promise to listen and I won't ever get angry at you for simply being curious."

"I was wondering how did you control Juugo-san's rage? What did you do?"

"I didn't really do much. The thing with Juugo is that he needs to know that there is someone forceful to control him should his anger get out of hand. He's insecure, and desires a sense of security. By being confident and forceful with him, I was showing him that I was in control. That I could and would control him if anything went wrong."

Sasuke sighed, "I'm really not too keen on trying to dominate over others like this, but Juugo seems to need that outside force to ground him. Masochist is what I would call it." Sasuke shook his head. "I hope he gets over it eventually. Anyways, keeping the parameters of Juugo's needs in mind, I then implanted a strong suggestion into his mind and he calmed himself down. I inserted the connection between my touch and tranquility into his brain. Truthfully, it was all a gamble." Sasuke's eyes flashed red for a second. Two tomoe spun lazily in each of his irises. "I'm still very green with this."

"The… when did you…?"

"When I killed that missing-nin. Or more accurately, he did something to trigger it right before I killed him."

"Sasuke-sama?"

"It's over now." Sasuke shook his head to indicate he didn't want to talk. Kimimaro, being the person that he was, did not push. If it were Karin, she would've pestered Sasuke for an answer. Her desire to "fix" everything wrong for Sasuke was disturbingly devout.

Sasuke studied Kimimaro for a long moment, and Kimimaro found that he could not turn away from that gaze. Sasuke smiled, a genuine, pleased smile. "I entrust my secrets to you Kimimaro, because I know that you will never betray me."

"Never!"

"And I you, my brother."

Kimimaro fell silent, touched by Sasuke's words. It seemed that no matter how often Sasuke is kind to him he would never get enough of it. Before meeting Sasuke, his life had been a harsh string of reprimands, fear, killing, and the coldness of death and loneliness. Here with Sasuke, there was warmth, kindness, smiles, and gentle words. Kimimaro didn't think he would ever be deserving of having family like Sasuke, but he'll try anyways, because he wanted to always walk in Sasuke's light.

xxx

They were attacked by a group of bandits. Karin felt them coming a mile away and they were ready, but when the bandits reached them, it wasn't Kimimaro or even Sasuke that took them down. It was Juugo. He went into rage mode and slaughtered the entire troupe.

Using ninja wire and a nearby tree, Sasuke thrust himself into the air. He came at Juugo from above just as the orange-haired boy set his sights on a shivering Karin. Sasuke landed nimbly on Juugo's shoulder, and before the bigger boy could throw him off he touched the top of Juugo's head with his entire palm, applying light pressure.

"Juugo," he said. "Focus."

Juugo growled, but he didn't try to buck Sasuke off. He breathed heavily. His transformed arm morphed back into normal skin and the black lines slowly receded.

"Good job," Sasuke praised and he petted Juugo on the head while he was at it.

Even he was surprised that his trick had worked. In all honesty, Sasuke was hesitant about bringing Juugo into the fold. Sasuke was still only seven, he wasn't very strong, fast maybe, but far from physically strong, and he had no confidence that he could smack down a raging Juugo or cow him with killing intent, but Ranmaru had been insistent on "giving the beast a chance at salvation." Ranmaru sees a kindred spirit in every tortured soul, so Sasuke had braved Juugo for Ranmaru.

Sasuke addressed the redhead, "Karin-san, are you hurt?"

"One hundred percent fine!" She gushed with stars in her eyes.

"Good. Let's collect what's useful from these bandits and move on quickly."

Twenty paces away from the gruesome sight, Ranmaru couldn't hold it in anymore. He barfed and Sasuke joined him. Karin rubbed their backs and held Sasuke's growing hair away from his face.

Sasuke had lost his hair tie when tussling with the missing-nin and now his hair fell freely around his face in a lustrous black curtain. Ranmaru thought it made him look pretty, like an onee-sama instead of an onii-sama and had told him so. Juugo had chuckled in agreement. Sasuke had sighed and patted Ranmura on the head.

Once Ranmaru and Sasuke were done heaving up their lunch the group pretended it never happened and continued along their merry way.

As fate would have it, they were soon accosted by trouble again. This time it was in the form of a bloodthirsty rogue ninja looking for some fun. Sasuke, as if in a move to prove something to himself, took down the enemy alone. He approached the missing-nin from a blind spot and with a series of quick jabs to pressure points he rendered the enemy ninja's arms temporarily immobile. As soon as the missing-nin realized what had happened he delivered a sharp snap kick to Sasuke's gut, sending him crashing into a tree. Juugo started to roar to life, but Ranmaru held him back.

The ninja charged at their group when ninja wire wrapped around his ankle and tripped him up. Sasuke emerged, coughing and cradling his stomach, but he grimaced through the pain and made quick work of trussing the enemy up, using the enemy's struggling movements to his advantage to tangle the ninja up even more.

However, when it came to dealing the final blow, Sasuke stopped. He gazed down at the tied up ninja with impassive eyes.

"Sasuke-sama, allow me." Kimimaro stepped forward and pulled out a bone sword from his arm.

Sasuke held out his hand for the weapon. "I've made my decision to set on this path. I will do this."

"Sasuke-sama…"

"Onii-sama."

"I have to do this." Sasuke said. Although at that point, it was hard to tell if he was talking to the group at large or to himself. "I did this before, I can do it again," he murmured and adjusted his grip on the bone weapon. "Don't look Ranmaru," Sasuke commanded, but Ranmaru looked anyways as Sasuke took the weapon from Kimimaro's hand and drove it through the missing-nin's neck in one quick thrust. He jumped back as he pulled out the bone weapon to avoid the spray of blood.

"Sasuke-kun, let me heal you," Karin offered her arm.

He shook his head. "After he dies," Sasuke nodded to the missing-nin, "retrieve my ninja wire for me please. It's still a long way from Konohagakure and we'll need to stretch all the supplies we have."

"But Sasuke-kun." Sasuke looked at her and she conceded with a reluctant nod.

"Let's find a place to set up camp after this. I'm sure we're all tired." Sasuke said. Then he walked away from the cooling corpse and wretched bile in a patch of dry grass. Ranmaru's eyes trailed after Sasuke with a worried light. At the very least, only one of them was throwing up their stomach this time.

That night, they had to create a campfire manually because Sasuke was having trouble getting his breath together to use his clan's technique. Karin suspected a fractured or broken rib.

Falling asleep was a task in itself. It was hard for Sasuke to find a comfortable spot to sleep in, but eventually fatigue took over and he fell into a fitful sleep. Karin and Kimimaro made eye contact over the smothered campfire and came to a silent agreement. Together they got the unconscious Sasuke to bite down on Karin and she transferred her chakra to heal him.

The injury wasn't life threatening yet, but traveling on the road was sure to make it worse. Already, Sasuke was warm with a rising fever. If only Sasuke wasn't so stubborn about not using her forbidden technique. Though it warmed her heart and made her blush when she replayed his reasons in her head. Maybe she should pick up some medical ninjutsu in case something like this comes up again. She hated seeing Sasuke's face contorted with pain.

At dawn, Sasuke jerked awake with a scream in his throat, rousing Karin from her vigil by his side.

"Sasuke-kun, it's okay. It was only a nightmare," she soothed.

There was cold sweat dotting his brow. She touched his forehead; glad to note the lack of fever. He breathed deeply and raggedly until he got himself under control. The others were rousing, too. Since everyone was up, they decided to start the day early. A quick breakfast and then they were packing up camp.

"Karin."

The redhead girl shivered at the low timbre of Sasuke's voice. And did he just drop the honorific with her?

"Show me your arm." Karin skipped over to him in a blissful haze and showed him her arm. "The other arm." She hesitated, but showed him the bite mark on her wrist. She chose the wrist because it felt more intimate somehow. Sasuke studied her wrist for a long while, at war with himself over what to say. For a while it looked like he might apologize, which was absurd because she chose to heal him. Finally he traced his thumb over his teeth imprint and said, "Thank you, Karin. I promise to be stronger next time so that you won't have to resort to this."

Tingles went up her arm and down her spine. "If it's for you, I don't mind using this technique an infinite number of times," she admitted with hearts in her eyes. Sasuke was so cool.

The look on his face was pained at her admission. She sobered up. "I'll learn medical ninjutsu so that I can heal you even without using this technique."

He startled at the declaration, and then gave her a gentle smile. "Thank you, Karin."

"Anything for you, Sasuke-kun."

"Maybe I should get some training in the medical field too," he pondered out loud.

"Eh? But then it would defeat the purpose of me healing you."

He gave her an amused looked and she blushed but didn't look away.

xxx

Juugo did not quite know what to make of Sasuke.

When they first met, Sasuke gave the impression that he commanded authority and demanded absolute obedience. Which would work out just fine for Juugo if Sasuke were to be his master and his cage, but after their first meeting Sasuke began to use less and less of that imperious tone on him, and to the others in the group he was downright clement and even sought to serve them in some ways, by helping them complete a task or volunteering to do the harder chore when it came to setting camp.

But none of his actions made him subservient to the others, in fact, everyone in the group deferred to Sasuke. Ranmaru obeyed and looked up to Sasuke like an older brother. Kimimaro guarded Sasuke like a loyal vassal to his lord and never challenged Sasuke's authority. Karin threw herself at Sasuke's feet to be helpful to him. And Juugo listened to Sasuke of course, because Sasuke was the lock for his rage.

Then there was Sasuke's changing attitude towards him. The more control Juugo showed over his rage the more friendly Sasuke became towards him. Sasuke was benign even before, but now it was like he actively sought a- dare Juugo believe it- friendship with Juugo.

It was all very jarring and perplexing.

For now Juugo decided to just go with the flow, and he promised to hone his rage into Sasuke's shield, so he would do that too. Maybe in the future there could be something more between Juugo and Sasuke, but for now, this was enough. This was contentment enough for Juugo.


	7. Chapter 7

.

Chapter 7

Drawing New Lines

After the incident with the missing-nin that Sasuke killed, Ranmaru had been on high alert. He didn't want to see his new friends getting hurt again and he definitely did not want to see the look of deadness in Sasuke's eyes again, so he had taken to using his Kekkei Genkai to avoid anybody that might be honing in on them. Ranmaru could see and hear ninja coming from afar- although Karin was more adept in this area with her sensor abilities- and he could cast genjutsu to misdirect them. He tired often, however, and he still wasn't strong enough for large-scale genjutsu, but he did what he could to help out the group.

Sasuke wasn't in a rush to return to Konoha. He led the group leisurely and they took frequent breaks. While the group rested and enjoyed Konoha's temperate environment, Sasuke would often practice with the weapons foraged from the bandits and rogue ninja that attacked them. He had poor aim with the shuriken, but did better with the kunai.

If Sasuke weren't doing target practice or ninjutsu training, he would coax one of the older children in the group to spar with him. Taijutsu practice, he said.

Juugo was a poor taijutsu partner in that he lacked form. When he needed to fight he usually relied on his nature chakra to transform himself and go berserk, although he was learning to be more conscious of his actions during those periods, but the going was slow.

Kimimaro preferred using his bone weapons to fight, especially in close combat. It was the way of his people and Kimimaro didn't see any special need to change that, but he would indulge Sasuke.

Karin turned out to be the best sparring partner out of the three, as she didn't have a previous style of fighting that she liked to fall back on. She had some formal training in Uzushiogakure, but didn't get to learn much before the invasion destroyed her village. Her style was a mix of formal learning, instincts, and fighting dirty. This seemed to work just fine for Sasuke, for he used a rather unorthodox style of fighting too. There was definitely a form and a flow to his movements, speaking of a past teacher, but it wasn't anything you would see in a ninja village.

Sasuke's form was graceful and fluid and relied on evasion and redirecting of the opponent's momentum instead of powerful punches and kicks. The style suited Sasuke, because he was so flexible that he would often evade an attack in a way that no one else would or could. Watching him fight was like watching water dance.

They continued on for a time like this. Strolling through Konoha, training, hunting, camping, and generally bonding with each other. The bonding helped each of them in ways that they did not realize, but as they grew closer and the loneliness moved further, they became lighter on their feet and smiles came more readily.

Once they hit the outskirts of Konohagakure, it wasn't long before ANBU tracked them down. Upon confirming that Sasuke was Uchiha Sasuke, the Last Uchiha and sole survivor of this clan- the others were not informed about this little important tidbit until then- an ANBU entourage arrived to escort them back to the village. Karin also got to see firsthand a medic-nin at work.

Once they arrived inside Konoha, they were given three days to clean up and recuperate before politics and paperwork come breathing down their necks. During that time, each one of them had to go through a therapy session to assess their mental state. Asides from a few minor hiccups that were to be expected from their experiences outside of the village, their mental states were considered stable and no one was pronounced clinically insane.

For Ranmaru, registering to become a Konoha citizen was simple enough, a brief meeting with the Hokage and mounds of paperwork. Applying to attempt for a Konoha genin position was more of a hassle. There would be an interrogation followed by a probation period in which they would be monitored by ANBU to ensure that they were not enemy plants. After which they would have to pass a test before general admission into the Academy.

What caused uproar was when Sasuke wanted to write Kimimaro, Ranmaru, and Juugo's name into the Uchiha family register, to officially bestow upon them the Uchiha name. Murmurs of unrest rose in the Council. Talk of some Itachi dude came up, something about blood purity, and something about them lacking the eyes. They do have eyes and they can see just fine, thank you very much.

Karin was fine with keeping her Uzumaki name, so she avoided that whole debacle. She did have pride in her birth village after all. Besides, she would be an Uchiha in the future when she marries Sasuke, or so she'd like to believe.

Sasuke stood at his full height, which wasn't much considering his age, and presented his arguments to the Council. "As the Last Uchiha I am now the Head of the Uchiha clan. I hold full authority over the Uchiha name. I have an obligation to rebuild my clan and these are the people I choose to become my new family. Together we will rebuild the Uchiha clan and serve Konoha with pride!"

Murmurs.

"You are still a child, hardly the head of a clan."

"I grew much in the time that I was taken from my beloved village. I have escaped my captors and made an example of them. I have led our group safely from The Land of Mist back to Konoha. I think I have proven myself capable of taking care of myself and that of others. I understand the heavy duty that comes with being responsible for human life. If Itachi should come to attack my village or my clan, I will confront him myself. Konoha is my village, and I have acknowledged these people," he waved to Ranmaru, Kimimaro, and Juugo, "as my people now. I hold full responsibility for their safety." Sasuke was laying it on thick, but the Council was still tittering back and forth.

Sasuke breathed deeply, "Once I am a genin I will be acknowledged as a full adult. If it will settle your minds I will take the graduation exam now."

"No!" The Hokage put his foot down and everyone was startled by his vehemence. "We are not in a time of war, there is no need for Konoha's children to graduated from the Academy early."

"Yet you would make exemptions for that monster instead?" One member sneered.

Sasuke spoke up before the conversation could digress, "Very well then. I shall graduate on time with my year mates, at the top of the class," he declared. "I will prove that I am a man of my word, and that I am capable and responsible enough to be the Uchiha Head. I hope this will set your minds at ease."

Of course the Council didn't just bend over at that point. There was a lot more beating around the bush, but Sasuke pleaded to the Hokage with his eyes, and eventually with their effort saw three new names added to the Uchiha family register.

They all moved into the Uchiha Compound. Karin was shocked at the eerie, desolate state of the place. The once proud Uchiha clan, reduced to a compound of ghosts. Ranmaru just looked sad.

Sasuke told them to choose whichever property they liked. Kimimaro and Ranmaru moved in with Sasuke naturally. Karin chose the house next door. Juugo decided to choose a place further away just to be safe. If they hear him raging, they will have time to plan a course of action before he reached their houses.

Sasuke was given ten days to settle his new family members into the village and then he was to return to the Academy. Sasuke did just that, and he also threw himself into his training and studies. Every morning he trained in his weaker aspects and at night he would pour over his Academy notes meticulously. He even dropped by the Academy to pick up a packet covering the lessons he missed in class.

His friends tried to be as supportive as possible. They hadn't realized what it took for them to join his family; even opening the Compound to Karin, an outsider, was fraught with arguments against the Council. Karin wondered if the Elders liked to argue just to be difficult or maybe they had nothing else to do in their old age, because they ended up approving of her stay in the Compound after all. Seeing the struggle that Sasuke went through, is still going through, and probably would be going through for a long time in order to keep them, they developed a new appreciation for his dedication and devotion to them.

The four of them, Kimimaru, Ranmaru, Karin, and Juugo, explored the village as a group to familiarize themselves with Konoha so that Sasuke wouldn't have to show them around everywhere- he did make a point to show them major establishments at least. Juugo was surprisingly adept at cooking once he figured out the kitchen implements, so he would come to Sasuke's house and cook a big meal for everyone, allowing Sasuke more time to study. Karin took care of any more paperwork that came their way. Kimimaro and Ranmaru took over household chores.

All in all, it was a tough week, but Sasuke's house had never been so lively and warm.

* * *

Story Recommendation: Wakaru? By Doragonkasai-Tsubasa. A look into what an OC might do if they were not reborn in a favorable position. One-shot. Fix-it.


	8. Chapter 8

.

Chapter 8

Plucking at the Heart Line

Although it was never confirmed, whispers spread through the Academy like wildfire at the long absence of the Uchiha Sasuke. The children were never explicitly informed- they were told that Sasuke-kun had some family problems, which was putting it very mildly considering that did nothing to cover the scope of the problems, not to mention there was the hushed up kidnapping incident- but overhearing gossip from their parents, they knew vaguely of the Uchiha Massacre.

After months, the sole Uchiha survivor finally returned to school. But in the place of the once happy and energetic yet snooty and arrogant boy was a child with a delicate air about him. Gone was the enthusiasm to best his brother, and in its place was a quiet demeanor and faraway eyes.

In the months that the Uchiha was absent, his hair had grown out and gravity tamed the tufts of hair that used to stick out in the back. The longer hair was now pulled into a ponytail at the nape of the neck. One had to wonder if he was trying to emulate his brother a bit. He had also switched out his usual black outfit for an all white one, which was perplexing, since black was the color of mourning in Konoha. Perhaps it was the Uchiha's way of saying, "I'm done mourning."

The fangirls could care less about the meaning behind his wardrobe change though. They were more mesmerized by the ethereal effect that the white had on their Sasuke-kun, coupled with the longer hair, and subdued attitude, the new Uchiha Sasuke was a nosebleed trigger and just begging to be coddled.

"I heard about your family," Ami approached Sasuke just before the start of class. "I'm sorry."

Sasuke tilted his head, his dark eyes scrutinizing the young girl. Ami fidgeted. Sasuke nodded at her condolences. She flushed and hurried away. The girls tittered and push at each other to approach Sasuke. The Uchiha huffed an imperceptible sigh and looked out the window. Just as another girl worked up the courage to approach him, Mizuki walked in and class began.

During recess, Shikamaru lazed under the shade of a tree with his best friend Chouji snacking by his side. He took note of, but didn't pay much attention when Sasuke leaned against the other side of the tree and cracked open a tome. As long as Sasuke was quiet and didn't disturb his peace, he was fine with the boy being there.

For most of recess the area under their tree remained undisturbed. The other children played ninja games and chattered with each other, all activities that took way too much effort in Shikamaru's opinion.

Nearing the end of recess Kiba bounded up to Sasuke. "Hey, hey. I heard your family all died and that you fought off the killer. That's how you got the scar. Is that true?"

Shikamaru sighed at Kiba's lack of tact. He was not looking forward to the fall out from that blunt statement. He prepared himself to roll away from the conflict, but Sasuke surprised him with his answer.

"I have family." Sasuke closed his book. "I didn't get this scar from… the killer. It was my carelessness." He stood up. "Now if you'll excuse me, recess is about to end."

"Huh? What? I didn't understand that at all. So is your family dead or alive?" Kiba shouted after Sasuke. Shikamaru wanted to tell him to shut up, but it was too troublesome.

"Kiba, put a sock in it," Chouji said. Shikamaru looked over at Chouji and his friend took it as a sign of thanks. Chouji shrugged in response. "Didn't do much good," he noted.

Kiba was running after Sasuke and peppering him with questions until an instructor heard him and roughly pulled him aside.

By the end of the day there were various stories behind Sasuke's new facial scar. It ranged from Sasuke getting cut while avenging his family honor to falling into a ditch by accident. The girls beat up the last person that suggested the ditch theory.

The laziest Academy student in Konoha sighed and dropped his head into his arms. He didn't have the energy to deal with all the drama.

Things were a lot less troublesome before Sasuke came back.

xxx

It was the spring before Haruno Sakura's fourth year at the Ninja Academy. She had turned ten not too long ago. Right now the Academy students were on a three-week long break, as the instructors got ready for the transition into a new school year.

Seeing that Sakura was on break, her mother decided to bring Sakura along to the marketplace to show her off to the uncles and aunties while they did their weekly grocery shopping. Sakura hated it when her mother got it into her head to show off the Haruno family's budding ninja. The limelight made her feel uncomfortable and despite Ino's reassurances that she looked cute with the red ribbon, Sakura still couldn't help feeling insecure about her large forehead from time to time.

But as it was break time, Sakura did not have an excuse to refuse her mother. Plus, she was promised anmitsu on the way home to sweeten the deal, so Sakura grudgingly agreed to tag along.

Sakura smiled nervously as another auntie patted her on the head and called her "precocious" and "cute." As soon as the auntie turned away, Sakura tugged on her mother's shirt hem, eager to be home, away from all the attention. That was when a ripple of angry whispers went through the crowd. Sakura looked around perplexed by the change in atmosphere. Then she spotted a little blond hair boy standing in the middle of the street with a glower on his face.

The boy wore a tattered cream-colored shirt with a red spiral on it and navy shorts. There were dirt stains and scuffmarks all along his arms and legs. The adults were all looking down their noses at the boy and talking behind their hands. Sakura did not understand. Did the boy do something bad?

Her mother took her hand and pulled her away to the next street over. Sakura's legs followed, but she couldn't help looking over her shoulder at the boy. She has never seen a child her age look so angry and… sad before.

As her mother continued to converse with the local tenders, Sakura could not help thinking back on that boy. She tugged at her mother's hem for attention.

"Mom, I'm going to go check on something," she murmured.

"Aw sweetie, just wait a little bit longer."

"Mom," Sakura whined.

Her mother sighed, "Oh all right, don't go far, I'll meet you at the park once I'm done here."

"Okay!" And then she was off.

By the time she retraced her steps to that spot, the boy was already gone. She fidgeted before mustering up enough courage to ask one of the shopkeepers where did the boy go.

"Oh dear, you don't want to get involve with that boy, nasty little demon."

Sakura was taken aback by that answer. She murmured something incomprehensible and jogged away. It took all her courage to approach an adult for help, and to be given that kind of response… Sakura found herself shrinking away from the adults. Why were people so scary and mean? Only Ino-chan was nice.

Given up hope, Sakura decided to head to the meeting place to wait for her mother. The sakura trees were in full bloom at this time of the year, so the trail through the park should be beautifully littered with the light pink blossoms.

Sakura was ambling leisurely to the meeting point, which was the center of the park, when she heard a little chirp. She followed the chirps to a find a featherless baby bird stranded on the ground.

"How did you get down here?" She wondered as she cradled the bird in her tiny hands. She looked up to see a bird nest nestled high in the branches of an old sakura tree. She swallowed. It was so high.

Sakura shook her head at herself and drew her lips into a determined line. She was a ninja (in training)! She can take on that tree! And so, with the baby bird in one hand, Sakura began to scale the thick tree. In her devotion to not jostle the baby bird, Sakura misjudged her next foothold and slipped. She held the bird close and screamed as she fell.

The sound of wire being pulled reached her ears and next thing she knew, she was caught in a slow descent. Sakura blinked in surprised. All she could see was white. Her savior set her gently on her feet. She took a step back to take in her savior. A boy her age, dark hair, fair skin, a thin scar along the jaw, and dressed in white.

"Sa- Sa- Sa- Sasuke-san?" Sakura exclaimed.

The corner of Sasuke's lip twitched. "Why were you climbing the tree?"

Dumbstruck, Sakura stuttered and could only hold up her hand as explanation. The bird chirped at Sasuke.

He quirked an eyebrow at the animal and then looked up to the bird nest. "I see." He held out his hand. "Allow me?"

Sakura nodded and transferred the bird gently onto Sasuke's palm. Their hands touched. Sasuke's hand was warm. Sakura blushed and snatched her hand back. Sasuke snuggled the bird into the high collar of his shirt to free up his hands. By swinging back and forth between two trees with the help of ninja wire, Sasuke easily made his way up to the nest. He carefully returned the bird to its nest. After making sure the bird was okay, he looked down to her and smiled, as if to say, "mission accomplished."

Crouching on a dark branch of the sakura tree amidst pale pink blossoms, with his hair and clothes ruffling gently in the breeze, and a gentle smile on his handsome face, Uchiha Sasuke was a vision. Sakura stumbled a few steps back. Upon realizing what her body just did, she burned bright red. She did not just swoon.

From his vantage point, Sasuke admired the blossoms. It was like sitting in the middle of a bouquet. "The blossoms in this park have the most beautiful color," he remarked casually. He caressed a pink petal. "Like your hair," he added as an afterthought.

Okay, she just swooned.

Before the… tragic Uchiha incident, Sakura had always thought Sasuke was cute. He wasn't gross and unrefined like the other Academy boys. Coupled with that was the fact that he was the top student in their class. Sakura appreciated brains and talent. She could understand why the girls in class went ga-ga over him. Then after the incident, Sasuke returned a changed person. He had a mature yet sad air about him, like a rare ephemeral blossom that grabbed your attention and had you fretting over how to preserve the beauty and life of such a fragile existence. It made one's heart clench and roused maternal instincts.

Despite all that, Sakura always held herself back. Someone like her would never be able to have someone like Uchiha Sasuke. He was like a god on a pedestal, way too good for her. He also had a huge fan base, with his number one fan being none other than the number one kunoichi in their class, Ino, her best friend. Sakura had convinced herself that she would be satisfied to nurse her baby crush on Sasuke from afar and maybe see him get together with Ino-chan in the future. Sakura didn't know about Sasuke, but at least Ino would be happy. And if her best friend were happy then that would make her happy, too.

Now, however, gazing upon that smile, remembering his warmth as he held her and saved her from a nasty fall, seeing his gentleness with the baby bird, and hearing that compliment, Sakura could not contain the feelings that burst within her chest. Her hair was the second feature that she was most insecure about, following her forehead. Her bullies used to taunt her about it being a weird color and that it was unsuitable for a ninja to have such unsightly hair. But Sasuke said he liked that color. The way that he said it, so flippantly, the sky was blue, the grass was green, her hair was pink, and it was a beautiful color. Like it was a matter of fact. It filled her with pride and made her chest swell with unbridled joy. He was the second person to give her confidence in her appearance- Ino being the first, and her parents' opinions didn't count.

In that moment, Sakura felt a connection with Sasuke. At the Academy, he was an untouchable being- never mind the fact that his fangirls would step all over her if she tried to get close to Sasuke- but here, he was close. Close enough to touch, and they did touch. Twice. Uchiha Sasuke used to be just someone to admire from afar, but here and now, Sakura thought she played witness to the human side of that untouchable god, something softer, and she liked what she saw.

She liked it a lot.

"Sakura! Where are you?" Her mother called.

"Coming!" Sakura replied. There was a snap of wire, and when she turned back to the tree, Sasuke was gone. On the ground by her feet there was a sprig of cherry blossoms.

Sakura took the sprig home and pressed it into a bookmark to commemorate the date that she confirmed her feelings and set her heart on one Uchiha Sasuke. Even if she was not yet worthy, he was someone worth fighting for. She was sure of it. A voice in the back of her mind bellowed its agreement.

* * *

Author's Note: I have no idea how the Academy curriculum works. I assume that it's year round. Since they're ninjas in training, I doubt they would get as much breaks as civilian students would. So I'm going to say the Academy runs year round with weekends off and a three-week break in between school years, and that break time is somewhere around springtime.


	9. Chapter 9

.

Chapter 9

Academy Line

Kimimaro, Karin, and Juugo were finally off probation with sparkling clean records. Well asides from that one time Kimimaro nearly boned a merchant for hovering too close to Sasuke. Then there was the time that Juugo broke a training field. He literally broke it, into pieces. Good thing no one was hurt. Then there was the time when Karin- okay, the point has been made. Their record was good enough and that's all that matters. Now they're finally off probation and can do more in the village, namely, like applying to the Ninja Academy. Just in time for the new term this spring. They all passed of course.

Based on skills and age group, Karin was seeded into the year above Sasuke. Both Kimimaro and Juugo were older than Karin, and Kimimaro was definitely much more skilled and controlled, but they were also placed into the same year as Karin. It probably worked out like that so that the instructors could observe all three of them at once, and this ensured they spend a good enough length of time in the Academy- two years- to foster their loyalty for Konoha before becoming official Konoha ninja.

Sasuke was just glad that all the initial tedious procedures of inducting his friends into the village were over and done with. He suspected the Elders were very happy when Kimimaro's Bloodline Limit came to light. Though Sasuke would rather Konoha not know about his family and friend's special talents, lest they're taken advantage of, Kimimaro's ability was impossible to hide due to it being his signature fighting style. Sasuke had to be thankful for other small miracles. Karin's unique healing technique was still under wraps, Juugo did not once go berserk within the village proper, and Ranmaru played the quiet child in public lest he revealed his peculiar abilities.

On the first day of classes, Umino Iruka walked into Sasuke's classroom with Mizuki.

"Iruka-sensei will be working with our class as an assistant instructor. Don't haze him now just because he is new, he might be your official instructor next year."

Iruka introduced himself to the class and the class drone back a response. A few of the girls thought Iruka was kind of cute. Just like that Iruka joined the class seamlessly. The first hiccup came in the form of Uchiha Sasuke.

The class was on their way out for recess, and Sasuke was the last one to leave the classroom, preferring not to fight the throngs of student eager for fresh air. When Sasuke passed by Iruka, who was erasing the board, he stiffened and halted.

"Is something the matter, Sasuke-kun?"

Sasuke took a step closer and sniffed. Then he shook his head and walked outside to join his year mates. Iruka watched his student thoughtfully until he was out of sight, then he went back to tidying up the classroom for the next lesson.

The next day, Sasuke came into class with his hair in a high ponytail. Just like Iruka's ponytail. He gave Iruka a deliberate look that had the assistant instructor blinking with confusion. Was this a form of hazing? This continued for a full week, until Iruka came in one day with his hair down because he was running late. He was harassed by the girls in class and by his fellow female co-workers (some male) who kept telling him how cute he looked. Sasuke took pity on him and gave him his hair tie during lunch, and ended up suffering the same harassment that Iruka did, except that Sasuke had a better time fending off the attention since it was more acceptable for a student to be rude. The next day Sasuke came into class with his usual low ponytail, and Iruka made sure to always carry extra hair ties with him.

There were no more hiccups after that. At least concerning Sasuke that is. Now, Uzumaki Naruto, from the other class that Iruka was assisting with was a whole different can of worms.

The next school year, Iruka did indeed become their class's official instructor. He was just as effective if not more so than Mizuki as an instructor and the class welcomed the change, which meant they heeded his teachings, but some students still tried to prank him, and failed spectacularly.

This was the year that Karin, Juugo, and Kimimaro would take the graduation exams. Sasuke had no doubts of their success. Sasuke himself still had two more years to go at the Academy before graduation, but it felt like time was running short, and despite his unchallenged position as top student, he couldn't help feeling like he wasn't doing enough.

xxx

"You've been staring at Sasuke-kun a lot," Ino teased as she nudged her best friend, Sakura.

Sakura blushed. "So what?"

"Whoa, no need to bite my head off. It was just an observation. Say, since when did you get interested in my Sasuke-kun? I thought you didn't care for him."

"I never said that," Sakura protested hotly.

"No, but you tried so hard to act nonchalant when I bring him up that I thought you were trying to prove a point."

"That's because!"

"Because what?"

"Because Ino-chan likes Sasuke-kun, so I didn't…"

Ino made her own deductions, "Oh? Are you saying you like Sasuke-kun more than me now, is that it?" She ribbed.

Sakura flushed. "It's different!"

Ino shrugged and said flippantly, "As long as you know that he's my man then I don't mind if you crush on him. All the other girls in class do too."

Sakura looked gobsmacked, and that was when Ino knew the joke went too far.

"Ino-chan… I don't like him the way you or the other girls in class do. I like _Sasuke-kun_ ," Sakura grounded out, and it sounded like it took a lot of effort for her to admit it out loud. "I'm willing to fight for him. I won't give him up, not even to my best friend. Especially, not for the reasons that you like him." Her knuckles were white as she clenched her hands together.

"Uh, so what are you saying?"

Sakura took a deep breath, her body was shaking, and Ino marveled at the courage Sakura was mustering. When Sakura opened her mouth to talk, her voice was steady, "I'm saying I'm going to be with Sasuke-kun in the future, and I'll win him over fair and square."

"Hoooh?" Ino made a sound of surprise. Then she smirked, a challenge sparking in her eyes. "Sasuke-kun is currently at the top of the class, the only one who can measure up to him is the top kunoichi of the class."

Sakura nodded in agreement, a grim smile on her face.

"Then… may the best kunoichi win." Ino flicked Sakura on the forehead, a playful smile on her lips. Sakura covered her forehead and glowered at Ino, but it was a look filled with determination.

Ino quite enjoyed that spark of fire. Her little cherry blossom was finally starting to bloom.

This will be a fun challenge.

xxx

Naruto was bummed.

The Hokage had pulled strings for him when he had said he wanted to be a genin as soon as possible He entered the Academy early and took classes with kids older than him. Despite everything, he just found it so hard to concentrate on theoretical work, and had flunked his exams twice already. This year will be his third attempt. Naruto sighed as he trudged into his new classroom. This year, he will be attending classes with those his age. He wasn't sure what to expect. Would they be crueler or nicer than his previous classmates?

He was the last one to arrive. When he entered the room, he scanned the classroom layout and the occupants quickly. He hoped there's an open seat by the windows. No such luck. Should have arrived earlier. Then he spotted a person glowing in white and Naruto's mouth dropped open.

"Pork Bun Ghost!" He pointed at the child dressed in white. The child was older now and there was a scar along the child's jaw, but the angel was as beautiful as Naruto remembered. Or was it a ghost? Naruto wasn't sure anymore.

"What did you call Sasuke-kun?" Two-thirds of the girls in class shrieked.

Naruto had just enough time to utter an "uh oh" before they dog piled him.

"What is this nonsense?" Iruka demanded when he entered the room. The girls paid him no mind and he had to physically pull them away from the pile. Some of them jumped right back in.

"Everyone," the voice was young, but sharp and reprimanding. The girls stilled. "This is unsightly behavior and you're disrupting the class."

The girls apologized - although it was hard to tell if the apology was directed at Iruka or at Sasuke, definitely not at Naruto - and clambered back to their seats.

"Thank you, Sasuke. And…" Iruka studied the boy curled up on the floor and immediately recognized the blond hair of their resident prankster. "Naruto? Would you like to go to the nurse's office?"

"I'm fine!" Naruto jumped to his feet.

Trusting in Naruto's resilience Iruka just sighed and said, "All right then… Please take a seat. Class will now begin." Then he began to do roll call.

Naruto climbed the steps to find an empty seat near the back. Sasuke, the Pork Bun Ghost, was seated in the back corner by the windows. He watched as Sasuke put away the scroll he was reading and pulled out supplies for class. When he looked up he made eye contact with Naruto.

Naruto blinked a few times, still not believing his eyes. After all this time, he was finally reunited with the Pork Bun Ghost. Sasuke caught his bewildered look and smiled softly in amusement. Yeah, that was the smile. He'd remember it anywhere. Naruto grinned and took a seat. He might actually like this class.

* * *

Author's Note: There is a reason behind Sasuke's initial "hazing" of Iruka, which won't be revealed until much later on. But it's only a minor detail for now, so don't be bothered by it.

Story Recommendation: A humorous little Harry Potter and Naruto crossover by AvocadoLove titled "Defense Against The Dark Arts With Professor Umino."


	10. Chapter 10

A/N: Thank you to the guest readers who left such nice reviews.

* * *

Chapter 10

Toeing the Line

"My name is Uzumaki Naruto!"

"I know. Iruka-sensei said your name during roll call." Sasuke said, not once pausing on his way home.

"Oh. Well, get this; I'm going to become the Hokage! Dattebayo!"

"Hmm… That's nice."

"Huh? You think that's nice? You really, really think so?"

"I don't mean nice in that-" Sasuke cut himself off and massaged his nose bridge. He cast around for the right words to explain, "I just meant that it's a nice ambition to have."

"So you think I can become Hokage?"

"Certainly not now, but nothing's impossible with hard work."

Naruto's eyes sparkled at that answer, and Sasuke got the feeling that he would never be able to shake off the blond now, but he hadn't wanted to be rude just to avoid the protagonist until graduation. It just wasn't in his nature to be mean.

"Right? Right? I'm going to work hard and become the Hokage. Dattebayo!" Naruto grinned, beaming sunshine and rainbows. "Hey, hey! Where do you live? I went to the Uchiha Compound to find you but you weren't there. Do you live somewhere else? Outside the Compound? In an apartment?" Naruto was running his mouth a mile a minute as he dogged Sasuke home after school.

They were walking through a rather scenic trail, with white cobblestone pavement, soft dappled lighting, and cherry blossom petals fluttering everywhere.

Sasuke paused and turned to Naruto with a raised eyebrow. He didn't look annoyed, just bemused. "What is it that you want Uzumaki-san?"

"Eh? Don't be so foreign, call me Naruto! And I'll call you Sasuke. We're friends right?"

"Since when?"

"Since you gave me presents! I still haven't returned the favor," Naruto said, then he thumped a fist into his palm, "Oh, I know, I'll treat you to ramen. It's the best food in the entire world."

"You've never been out of the village," there was a definite undertone of amusement in the voice and Naruto took that as a positive sign.

Naruto grinned, "I don't have to. I know it's the best thing ever because Teuchi-san makes ramen from the heart!"

Sasuke smiled, amused. A soft pink petal drifted onto his hair. Naruto reached up and casually brushed the petal off Sasuke's dark locks.

"You know…" Naruto leaned forward slightly with his hand still settled on Sasuke's hair in a light caress, "You're very beautiful." A soft flush spread across Sasuke's cheeks at that candid proclamation. Naruto couldn't help thinking how cute he looked.

Sasuke pushed Naruto's face away. His expression was part amusement, part exasperation. "You're a smooth talker, aren't you?"

Naruto grinned, unabashed. "You're so pretty I thought you might be a girl when we first met."

"Hn." Sasuke continued down the path and Naruto trotted next to him, a content smile on his face. Sasuke didn't say anything else, but he didn't shoo Naruto away either, so Naruto followed him all the way home.

"You _do_ live here!" Naruto pointed an accusing finger at Sasuke, who arched an eyebrow.

"I never said I didn't."

"What? But- but-"

"Are you coming or not?"

"Of course! Dattebayo!"

Naruto still had vague memories of combing through the Compound when it was empty and eerie. With Sasuke walking beside him, the Compound didn't seem so bad.

As soon as Sasuke opened the door to his house a blur barreled towards him. "Welcome home, onii-sama!"

Sasuke hugged the little boy. "I'm home, Ranmaru." The boy nuzzled his face into Sasuke chest.

Naruto watched the display. "Who's this kid?" He smiled at Ranmaru.

"This is my adopted brother, Ranmaru. Ranmaru, this is Uzumaki Naruto-san, my classmate."

Naruto's smile drooped a little at that. Classmate, not friend…

"Uzumaki?" Ranmaru queried.

"Yes. I assume Karin is still out with her team?"

"Yeah, another D-rank," Ranmaru giggled.

"Well they only graduated three weeks ago. No matter how skilled they are, I doubt their jonin-sensei would just throw them on a C-rank mission," Sasuke reasoned.

"Who's this Karin?"

Both Sasuke and Ranmaru smiled eerily at Naruto. "You'll meet her soon."

Naruto wasn't sure he wanted to.

Yeah, Naruto knew for sure he didn't want to meet this Karin, but he met her anyways. He was surprised to learn that she was an Uzumaki too. For a while it looked like they were going to hit it off well. Naruto complimented her hair. Karin told him stories of Uzushiogakure. Then things got weird when Naruto invited himself to dinner.

It was Karin's turn to cook. The entire time she was in the kitchen she was muttering and cackling to herself. Naruto feared for the safety of his stomach lining. While Karin cooked, Naruto got to know the other members of Sasuke's family, Juugo and Kimimaro. They were nice enough, but Kimimaro was always _there_ when Naruto tried to get closer to Sasuke to talk. Juugo seemed shy and didn't want to interact much, so Naruto let him be for now, there was plenty of time to get to know each other later. For now, Naruto focused his attentions on Sasuke and Ranmaru whom were the most receptive and indulging to his motor mouth.

When Karin dished out the food, Naruto immediately smelled something different about Sasuke's portion, but it wasn't poison. If anything it smelled like Karin put extra spices into Sasuke's portion, which was odd since Naruto was sure she was cooking everyone's share at once.

They dug in. The food was nothing like Ichiraku's but it was good and he told her so. She thanked him for his compliment ("It's a recipe from Uzushiogakure"), and they were still getting along well, making conversation about the Uzumaki clan while they ate.

After dinner, Ranmaru did the dishes. Juugo excused himself for the night. Sasuke stumbled, pink-faced, into the living room area, and the other three followed suit.

"Sasuke, what's wrong?" Naruto asked.

Sasuke collapsed on the couch, looking boneless and limp, his head lolled back on the backrest. "Hmm?" Sasuke looked at Naruto through half lidded eyes.

Naruto's heart fluttered. "Guys, what's happening?" He asked the other two.

"Witch," Kimimaro sniped at Karin.

"He ate it willingly," Karin snapped back.

"It's fine," Sasuke murmured. "I feel relaxed."

"That's right," Karin smirked at Kimimaro and went around to the back of the couch. "Just relax, Sasuke. You're always working so hard." She started to give Sasuke a massage.

"Feels good," Sasuke said, his eyes fluttering close.

"It's the calms," Kimimaro said.

"Calms?" Naruto asked.

"Calms," Karin confirmed, her hands working at the knots in Sasuke's shoulders. "Imported from the shores of Uzushio. Expensive products you know. This is only the third time I got to make it," she purred.

"I don't get it." Naruto said, watching as Sasuke melted into boneless putty under Karin's skillful hands.

"When I first started experimenting to see if I could recreate the taste of home, I had to substitute some spices, because imported products are expensive you see." Karin explained. "In one of my experiments I found out that if I mix certain spices native to Konoha with the clams from Uzushio, it produces an interesting effect in Sasuke."

"So Sasuke is... drunk? On clams?" Naruto blanched.

"Not drunk. Relaxed."

"Tipsy," Kimimaro said.

"No one asked for your input," Karin snapped at him.

"And Sasuke just goes along with it?" Naruto asked.

"He trusts Karin too much," Kimimaro frowned.

"Of course, I'm very dependable," Karin crooned.

"You said you wouldn't overdose him again."

"I didn't. This is the perfect amount. By the way, you should go take a bath, Kimimaro. You stink. I've got it covered here."

"I'm not leaving you alone with Sasuke-sama."

Karin glared daggers at Kimimaro even as her hands kneaded Sasuke gently. Naruto heard a ripping sound and then there was a bone-white blade in Kimimaro's hands.

"Whoa!" Naruto jumped in. "C'mon guys, Sasuke wouldn't want you two to fight. Kimimaro, why don't you go relax with a hot bath, I'll watch over here." Karin stopped glaring and looked away. "Okay?" Naruto prompted Kimimaro.

After an eternity, Kimimaro left the room.

"Finally. I thought he'd never leave. That spoilsport," Karin complained. Her hands never once stopped moving against Sasuke, who was half asleep by now. He looked so relaxed. Naruto kind of enjoyed seeing it.

"Hey Naruto, can you go to my house across the street and fetch some massage oils for me?"

"What? Me?"

"Who else, dummy? Does it look like it's a good idea for me to stop now?"

"I guess not…"

"It's just across the street. The oils are all in a basket. Hurry back."

"Okay…" Naruto rushed to the house across the street. He sneezed as soon as he got in. The house was covered in dust and didn't look like it had been lived in for some time now. Maybe Karin was just really lazy about cleaning. Naruto wasn't too keen on cleaning either. It had to be an Uzumaki thing.

He searched the house. He had suspected it from the beginning, but he didn't want to doubt a fellow Uzumaki. Now Naruto knew for certain that he was duped. He went back to Sasuke's house only to find Karin and Sasuke gone. He kept his panic under control. If Kimimaro found out there would be hell to pay.

"Which house does Karin live in?" Naruto asked Ranmaru.

"Just next door."

Naruto found the two people he was looking for in Karin's living room. Sasuke was shirtless and lying sprawled on his stomach on the couch. Karin straddled his waist and was rubbing unscented massage oils into Sasuke's bare skin. Sasuke was moaning softly, completely oblivious, as Karin worked the kinks out of his body.

Something down south twitched at the scene and Naruto tried very hard not to think about it.

When Karin's fingers trailed Sasuke's spine a little too low, Naruto felt a surging panic. He threw her off Sasuke and picked up the dark haired boy to carry him back to his house, where Kimimaro could watch over him. Due to the way Naruto held Sasuke, his soft golden locks brushed against Sasuke's neck as he moved. The uninhibited Sasuke moaned into Naruto's ear, and Naruto groaned himself as a shudder ran down his body. Karin's sharp eyes did not overlook his reaction.

After delivering Sasuke into Kimimaro's arms, Naruto hightailed it out of the Compound as if actual ghosts were chasing after him.

Naruto's dreams that night were… confusing.

Confusing, because he wouldn't describe them as disturbing, and he would never admit that they were stimulating.

He woke up with morning wood the next day and stumbled into class late on his second day.

It was going to be a long school year.


	11. Chapter 11

A/N: Reply to Warlord of Chaos, your PM is disabled so I can't private message you, but I wanted to say thanks for reading and always reviewing my story. You've been very kind with your words and your English is not bad at all. Your reviews always make me chuckle.

And special thanks to the guest reader who left such a positive and motivating response to my story. You really made my day.

* * *

Chapter 11

Walking the Line to You

After school, Naruto and Sasuke walked home together again.

"Hey, Naruto-san. You don't look too good today. Did you have a late night?"

"Um, yeah, something like that."

"I apologize about yesterday."

"Yesterday?" Naruto squeaked. "What yesterday?"

Sasuke looked at Naruto bemused, he was surprised by Naruto's reaction. "I was not a very good host. I can't believe I fell asleep after dinner. I hope the others didn't give you a hard time."

"Fell asleep? You mean you don't remember?"

"Why? Did something interesting happen yesterday? I was not informed of such."

"You were-" Naruto waved his arms around, flustered, "You were like drunk or something."

Sasuke frowned, offended. "I do not approve of spirits, Naruto-san, and I would never keep such things in my house, let alone consume it myself."

"Oh… Hey, are you sulking?" Naruto asked. Sasuke continued walking. "You _are_ sulking."

Sasuke pinned Naruto with a look. Something flashed in Sasuke's eyes and Naruto stopped pushing the topic. They fell into an awkward silence as they walk. Suddenly two thoughts occurred to Naruto. Sasuke did not know that _he_ specifically could get drunk on a special combination of spices and clams, and Sasuke was a forgetful drunk. Naruto doubted anyone in the Uchiha household informed Sasuke of those tidbits, and Karin would definitely keep something like that secret to take advantage of the situation.

Naruto wondered if he should be the one to tell Sasuke. It seemed that Sasuke closed himself off to the topic of liquor. It wouldn't be surprising if no one in his family dared to bring up the subject upon seeing the wounded gazelle look in Sasuke's eyes. Even Naruto shut up at the look.

"Hey! Ichiraku's. Let's go. I promised to treat you." Naruto took Sasuke by the hand and dragged him towards the main streets.

"Ah, wait, Naruto-san."

"Teuchi-oji-san and Ayame-nee-chan are like the nicest people ever. You'll like them. Um, feathers of a flock and all that."

"You mean birds of a feather?"

"Yeah, that!" Naruto said glibly and grinned.

Sasuke took the peace offering for what it was and allowed himself to be pulled along. It's hard to stay angry with Naruto for long when the blond was so earnest.

xxx

Sakura kicked the wooden training post. She hit it with a palm strike and then followed up with a left hook. Sweat poured down her forehead and plastered her clothing to her skin, but she kept going. She knew she was one of the weaker girls in taijutsu class. Part of it had to do with her having nobody to train her outside of class and part of it had to do with her lack of diligence in the area.

She hadn't wanted to bulk up too much. That would look really unattractive for a girl. At least that's what her mother always said. But if she wanted to beat Ino and be the top kunoichi in class then she would have to work on her taijutsu. She punched the pole again. Her knuckles stung. Her stomach rumbled but she ignored it. She was on a diet, so she didn't eat much before throwing herself into training. She's been at it for nearly two hours now.

She went in for a straight jab, misjudged the position of the pole and stumbled forward. Huh? Did the pole just move? The world was getting hazy and black spots danced at the corner of her eyes. She felt dizzy and unbalanced. Her head hit the pole and she slumped to the ground.

Her stomach grumbled again. She grimaced. Her head felt fuzzy and her body ached from the training. She wanted everything to stop. She pressed her face onto the cool dirt floor and knew no more.

When she startled awake next it was to find herself in a hospital bed.

"What? How?"

"Ah, glad to see you're awake, Haruno-chan."

Sakura turned to look at the medic-nin by her bedside. The medic-nin was adjusting a saline drip.

"What happened?" Sakura croaked.

"Here, have some water first." The medic-nin helped Sakura to a cup of water. "My name is Mina." Sakura gulped the water hastily. "You fainted due to hunger and fatigue."

"Oh." Sakura blushed. She could hear the reprimand in the medic-nin's voice. A ninja in training who didn't know how to judge the condition of her own body is pretty embarrassing.

"You're a student in the Ninja Academy aren't you?" Mina asked.

Sakura nodded.

"If you're training to be a ninja then you need to be more conscious of your health." Mina sighed. "Dieting isn't good for a ninja."

"But…"

"I know. I've been there. I was once a young girl in love, too, you know?"

Sakura blushed. "You're still young…"

Mina grinned. "Why thank you. Anyways, there really is no need for you to worry about getting fat. As a ninja you will always burn more calories than a civilian. What you need is a balanced and nutritious diet to aid in your growth and development as a ninja."

Sakura nodded.

"Here, eat this for now." Mina handed her an apple. "Fruits and vegetables digest easier, so you should start with those if you're really hungry. I'll give you a packet on nutrition when you discharge. It'll also teach you how to monitor the amount of calories you'll need based on age, body size, and how vigorous your training regime is."

Sakura nibbled on the apple. "I want to get stronger, but I don't want to bulk up too much," she admitted.

Mina hummed. "That's a bit contradictory isn't it? If you train, you will definitely gain muscles, and that's what makes you stronger." Mina gave her a thoughtful look, "Is the guy you like a civilian?"

Sakura shook her head. "He's in the Academy like me."

Mina held back a snort. "Then is he the type that insists his girl has to be weaker than him? If so, he's either sexist or has some self-esteem issues, and he doesn't deserve your attention."

"Sasuke-kun is not like that!" Sakura protested.

"Sasuke-kun?"

Sakura blushed and nibbled on the apple more vigorously. Mina laughed. Sakura's jaw dropped. Was the medic-nin making fun of her crush?

"Sasuke-kun, huh? I should've guessed. Lots of girls like him." Sakura flushed. She wanted to protest that she wasn't like the other girls who like him, but Mina continued, "If it's Sasuke-kun then you don't have to worry about bulking up. He's not that concerned with appearances. In fact, he would probably prefer to have a strong partner."

"You speak as if you know him."

"I do. I was his designated nurse when… when he first visited the hospital. He still visits me regularly along with his redheaded friend. Always pestering me to teach them medical ninjutsu."

"Sasuke-kun and medical ninjutsu?!"

Mina laughed again. "You learn something new everyday. Get some rest now. I'll have some more food delivered to you. You can be discharged once you're steady on your feet."

"Mi- Mina-sensei."

"Hmm?"

"I like Sasuke-kun."

"Yeah, good luck with that kid." Mina patted her on the shoulder.

" _No_. I like _Sasuke-kun_ ," Sakura repeated, looking into Mina's eyes.

Mina gives her a considering look. Then her eyes softened. "If that's the case then _good luck_. Not many people see Sasuke-kun. All they see is a pretty boy with a tragic past. To be fair, that was I once, too. But Sasuke-kun is a good kid."

"I know. He's a kind person."

"Well, I have other patients to check on now." Mina tapped Sakura on the nose with a finger. "Work hard, little ninja."

"Um, Mina-sensei, just one more thing. How did I get to the hospital?"

Mina gave her a Cheshire grin. "Why, it was Sasuke-kun."

"Sa- Sa- Sasuke-kun?!"

"He found you fainted on the training field and brought you in."

"So- so, he _carried_ me?" Sakura blushed redder than her qipao dress.

Mina laughed and gave her a little finger wave as she left. Sakura's heart would not still for a long time afterwards.

* * *

Story Recommendation: For those of you who are fans of One Piece I recommend the comedy that is "Second Division Prohibitions" by elvenarchress here on fanfiction. net. I know I'm advertising a One Piece story in a Naruto fanfic, but Naruto isn't the only fandom I dabble in. And this One Piece fic is like crack cranked up to eleven. It's seriously funny. I mean it's serious stuff. So go check it out if you're into the fandom and want a good laugh.


	12. Chapter 12

.

Chapter 12

Budding Lines

The next morning, Sakura woke up well before the start of classes. She ate a healthy, balanced breakfast and then whipped up two bento lunches. Due to a rumor she heard, she packed extra tomatoes in one of the boxes. Then she went for a morning jog to train her stamina before heading off to the Academy.

All throughout morning classes, Sakura was nervous and distracted. She was also a little lethargic because she wasn't used to working out in the mornings. She was thankful for her breakfast; otherwise she definitely would've dozed off due to lack of energy.

She managed to pay enough attention so that Iruka-sensei wouldn't catch her blindsided. Just because she's the currently the top kunoichi in academic marks doesn't mean she can afford to slack off. One slip and Ino will overtake her.

Finally lunchtime rolled around. She took a deep breath and gave herself a pep talk inside her head. An encouraging voice echoed her sentiments back at her, and with that little push, she pulled out the lunches that she prepared and approached Sasuke.

The new student in their class, Uzumaki Naruto, was sitting next to Sasuke and talking a mile a minute. Sakura felt a twinge of envy as she watched Sasuke nodding indulgently, although it looked like he only heard one-fourth of the one-sided conversation. She wondered how they became friends so quickly. Naruto only joined their class two days ago. What did he do to capture Sasuke's attention? Or did they know each other before hand and just never had any classes together?

As it became evident that Sakura was making a beeline towards Sasuke, hostile glares turned towards her. A shiver ran down her spine but she forged on.

"Sa- Sasuke-kun."

He looked up at her as she placed a packed lunch before him. Naruto stopped chattering to look at her too. Her face was burning hot.

"Um, urm, this- this is for you. Mina-sensei told me you carried me to the hospital when I fainted yesterday, so, um, thank you!"

Sasuke muttered under his breath. It sounded like, "I told her not to tell." Then he sighed and smiled haltingly at her. Her heart fluttered like a hummingbird. "It is only natural to help a fellow classmate in need. There is no need for thanks."

"Oh…" Sakura said, disheartened.

"But you're welcome anyways. And thank you for the thought, but I already brought a lunch." He took out his bento as proof.

Her shoulders sagged even more.

"Hey, hey. It's free food!" Naruto protested. "How can you turn away free _food_?"

Sasuke flinched as if just realizing something. A contrite look flashed across his features briefly. Huh? What was that about?

"Ah, Haruno-san," he started, but paused as he looked above her shoulder. The feeling of daggers stabbing at her back disappeared for a second. "Do you mind if I share your bento with Naruto-san? He forgot his lunch today."

"Heh? Is that really okay? But it's for you!" Naruto protested. Then he turned to her with pleading eyes, "Is it really okay?"

Sakura was speechless for a moment. She did not plan for this outcome. She had anticipated Sasuke to reject her bento, but to have to give it away to a stranger was a bit much. To be fair, she probably couldn't finish both lunches, but she made the lunch with Sasuke in mind, to give it to someone else was…

"Would you like to sit with us for lunch today?" Sasuke's voice cut through the gloominess of her thoughts.

Sakura brightened. "Yes, please!"

She retrieved her lunch and joined Sasuke and Naruto. The daggers that the girls in class sent her way rebuffed off of her shield of happiness. She hummed as she unpacked her lunch and began to eat.

"I'm Uzumaki Naruto!" Naruto introduced himself. Sakura already knew that from roll call but she humored him anyways.

"Haruno Sakura."

"I'm going to become the Hokage! Dattebayo!"

Sakura blinked at the rather sudden and bold proclamation. Her first instincts was "Ha ha, _you_? No way. If anyone were going to make a good Hokage then it would have to be Sasuke-kun." But she held her tongue because she had a feeling that Sasuke-kun would not appreciate her ridiculing Naruto.

"That's nice…" She smiled obligingly.

Sasuke snorted. Sakura blushed. Was that no good?

Naruto laughed. "That's what Sasuke said too."

"Oh," Sakura perked up at this. Gaining confidence she plowed on with the most generic yet nice answer she could come up with, "Well, I'm sure you'll have a shot if you work hard for it."

Naruto beamed at her and she was momentarily blinded by his smile. "Oh my god, you think so, too? Yeah! I'm totally gonna work hard and become the Hokage. Just you watch. Dattebayo!" He then dug into Sakura's homemade lunch. "This is delicious! You're really good at cooking, Sakura-chan." Naruto praised her.

"Oh, well…" She blushed. "It's only rice balls. Anyone can make rice balls."

"You're being too modest, Sakura-chan!" Rice flew everywhere as Naruto talked with his mouth full.

Sakura laughed politely and discreetly flicked the rice off her face. From afar she didn't realize how boisterous Naruto was. In contrast, Sasuke was calm and collected. How does Sasuke stand being around all that… energy? Sakura peeked at Sasuke from under her lashes. He didn't seem to be annoyed by Naruto's motor mouth and boundless energy. If Sakura were in his place she would've been worn down within the first five minutes. That, or she'd get annoyed and just punch Naruto to next Sunday to shut him up. A voice in the back of her mind agreed. But Naruto seemed to be Sasuke's friend, so she'll put up with him for now.

Sakura smiled when she saw Sasuke pick out a cherry tomato from the lunch she packed for him.

"Hey, that was supposed to be mine!" Naruto whined.

Sasuke flicked Naruto on the nose and deliberately popped the tomato into his mouth.

"I heard you like tomatoes, Sasuke-kun." She blushed when he looked at her.

"I like them now," he admitted. "I also have a fondness for clams."

"Clams?!" Naruto exclaimed and choked on a rice ball.

"Honestly, Naruto-san. Chew your food and don't speak with your mouth full," Sasuke reprimanded.

"Clams?" Sakura wondered.

"Well, I've always liked shellfish. More so now that it's rare to find in Konoha." Sasuke plucked a tomato right out of Naruto's fingers, much to the blond's annoyance.

Sasuke's throat bobbed as he swallowed the tomato. Naruto gulped in mimicry of the action and looked away, his face ruddy and presumably annoyed.

Sakura ran the words through her head. Something about Sasuke's statement sounded off. What did he mean by he like shellfish more now if he had always liked them?

"Haruno-san?"

"Huh?"

"You were spacing out –ttebayo."

"Oh, sorry. Just thinking." She did the laughing politely thing that she always saw her mother do and returned to her lunch. Sasuke and Naruto just looked at her with curious expressions. Maybe that was the wrong response, but too late for that now. A sigh echoed in the back of her mind and she continued eating her food.

xxx

"Hey! Forehead!"

Sakura gripped her hands into fists. She knew this would happen. If it were Ino who had approached Sasuke with lunch the girls might glare a little bit with envy, but they wouldn't give the Yamanaka heir any sass about it, and they definitely would not corner her after school like this.

Ino had offered to walk her home today, but Sakura had declined. Ino's dad had came to pick her up, and Sakura knew that putting off this confrontation wouldn't do any good.

"What do you guys want?" Sakura gritted out as she turned around to face four girls from her class.

"Just _what_ do you think you are? Ugly."

"Forehead."

"Fatty."

"Civilian."

Sakura twitched. Out of all the insults, the last one stung the most. Tears pricked at her eyes as she stared down her nose at the bullies. Yeah, she knew she came from a civilian background. She knew these people all had parents or relatives who were ninjas. She knew she was born at a disadvantage, that her chakra pool was smaller, that she entered the Academy clueless about their world. She knew all that. But she never stopped trying. She didn't drop out when three-fourths of the civilian children who enrolled at the same time as her did.

She stayed.

That had to mean something. Sakura had to convince herself of that; otherwise she wouldn't be able to keep pushing on.

"And you're all a bunch of shallow cowards!" She spat at them.

"What did you say?!"

"You heard me. You're all too afraid of approaching Sasuke-kun so you take it out on me when I had the courage to. And none of you even like _Sasuke-kun_. You all think he's so cool because of his tragic past, and because he's a loner, but none of you _understand_ him at all."

"Oh, and you think that _you_ understand him?"

"…No, I don't. But I'm definitely closer to understanding him than you pigs are!"

"Why you!"

"I think it's time we teach this little loud mouth a lesson."

"Ino-chan is not here you know."

"Can't hide behind her back now, can you? Forehead."

" _Civilian_." Ooh, that one was more perceptive. She saw that the noun bothered Sakura more than any degrading adjective could.

Before they could gang up and dog pile her, Sakura threw the first punch, right into the nose of the one who called her "civilian." There was a satisfying crack and Sakura started to smile, but then a fist sailed into her jaw, unsettling her.

Despite Sakura's resolve to get stronger in taijutsu, she hadn't practice enough to make much of a difference. Soon the difference in numbers saw her at a disadvantage and she was on the ground curled up in a ball. She gritted her teeth. Even if she lost this fight, she would never let them see her cry or hear her scream.

"What are you guys doing? Stop that!"

Sakura recognized Naruto's voice. The kicks didn't stop.

Naruto leaped into the fray and started pulling and tearing the girls off her. "I said stop –ttebayo!"

Two of the girls turned their fists on Naruto, who luckily had no aversion to fighting against girls.

Sakura lashed out. She grabbed onto a leg and bit into the ankle. The girl screamed and started stepping on her. Sakura pulled on the leg and the girl dropped to her butt. She rolled out of the range of the other girl and got back up on her feet. Then she lunged, a fist raised to hit the girl in the face. The girl raised her arms to block and Sakura kicked her in the gut instead. She doubled over and Sakura elbowed her bowed back, letting gravity add to her attack. The other girl was still crying over her ankle, which was bleeding.

Naruto was scratched and bitten and tufts of his hair was pulled, but he managed to come out on top of the other two bullies.

"We'll remember this." The group spat at them and limped away.

"And don't you forget it!" Naruto shouted after them. One of them flipped him the bird and he blew a raspberry at them. "Sakura-chan! Are you okay?"

Sakura spit out a glob of blood and saliva. "I'm fine."

Naruto fretted a bit more but was unsure about touching her, so he just flittered around her with his hands in his hair.

She chuckled and then grimaced, "I'm really fine." She straightened up as best as she could. "Actually, better than fine! I won. I mean, we _won_." She was in disbelief.

"Yeah, you were so cool, Sakura-chan. You totally whooped their butts."

"Well, you helped, so thanks."

"No problem. That's what friends do, right?"

"Um, yeah, I guess."

Naruto grinned, and Sakura realized that he took it to mean that they were friends when she only meant it as an agreement to the statement. She was about to correct him but his eyes were shining. She snapped her mouth shut. Aw, what the hell. At least he's friendly with Sasuke. That had to count for something.

"I can't go home looking beat up like this. I'm going to visit the hospital. Do you need to go, too?"

"No!" Naruto blushed, "I mean, no, I'm fine. I don't visit the hospital any- urm, that is, I heal fast. Like really fast. Like super fast. So I'm totally fine, dattebayo!"

Sakura gave him a wry smile. "If you say so. I'll see you tomorrow then."

"Do you need me to walk you?"

That was actually kind of sweet. Too bad he wasn't Sasuke. "No, I'm good."

"Oh, okay." Naruto scratched the back of his head. "See you tomorrow." He grinned.

She smiled back.

* * *

Story Recommendation: Colors and Carousels by Folle. It's a cute SakuraxNaruto one-shot.


	13. Chapter 13

A/N: Hooray for spring break. Hopefully I can squeeze out another update before the break is over. In the meantime, enjoy the new chapter!

* * *

Chapter 13

Dinner Lineup

Sakura had taken to waking up before the sun rises to train her stamina, endurance, and hand-to-hand combat. Doing so ensured that her bullies won't be awake to bother her, and there were lesser people to laugh at her if she messed up.

It was during one of her morning practices when she ran into Konoha's Green Beast. The junior that is. Literally.

It was a head on collision when they both turned from different sides of the same corner during their morning run. Rock Lee saw stars when he looked up to see the most beautiful vision he had bumped into.

The girl had the most unique pink hair and green eyes. She was dressed in forest green training sweats that brought out her eyes, and sweating like a pig with her hair messy and plastered to her face. Dirt from the fall smudged her clothing. She stood up and brushed herself off. The sun was just beginning to rise, casting an orange backdrop behind her.

"You all right?" She extended a hand to him.

He got onto his knees and clasped her hand with both of his. "My name is Rock Lee! Please go out with me! I'll protect you until the day I die!"

The mildly concerned look on her face fell and she gave him a dead-eyed stare. "No." She pulled her hand back and continued on her run.

Lee cried manly tears of heartbreak.

The next morning, he ran all over Konoha until he bumped into her again. Not as literally this time. He then professed his undying love for her youthful spirit and beauty only to have her shoot him down again. The third time he did it, she punched him into a tree.

xxx

"Ugh, my teammate is such a freak. It's even worse now that he apparently found the love of his life. All he ever does during training is gush about her, and our sensei just encourages him. It's sickening." Karin complained at the dinner table.

Even though Karin and Juugo lived in different houses, they barely used their kitchens. They always came over to Sasuke's house for dinner and the five inhabitants of the Uchiha Compound would take turns cooking dinner. Even Ranmaru cooked from time to time. Due to his size he wasn't as adept in the kitchen as the others, but his curry dish is quite good. Sometimes Naruto would come over for dinner, too. But after his first attempt at cooking for them, all the Uchiha plus Karin banned him from the stove until he learned better.

"You always complain about them, but we've never actually learned anything about your team from your rants. Are you even trying to get along with them?" Sasuke quipped with a wry smile.

"I don't _want_ to get along with freaks like them. They creep me out. Ugh, just talking about them gives me goosebumps. These past two months have been a nightmare with them." Karin jabbed her chopsticks against the table to emphasis her point.

"How about you two? Juugo. Kimimaro. How are you getting along with your team?" Sasuke asked.

Kimimaro and Juugo exchanged looks. "We complete our missions without problems," Kimimaro said.

Sasuke raised an eyebrow.

"Our sensei seems to favor our other teammate," Juugo supplied.

"It's fine, though. Juugo and I work well together."

Sasuke frowned. He mulled on what his friends told him as he ate his dinner. "Unlike Karin, the two of you don't openly complain about your team, but from your previous comments it sounds like you are dissatisfied with the way your sensei singles out your third teammate. Have you considered the fact that because the two of you are so compatible, that you may have unconsciously segregated your last teammate? Your sensei might be trying to rectify the situation by paying more attention to her."

"I did not say as such."

"No, but I can read between the lines."

Kimimaro blinked. He really wasn't jealous of their third teammate, as Sasuke seemed to be implying. The only one he respected with all his heart and cared to follow to the death was Sasuke. It didn't matter if their new sensei wasn't someone worth following.

He was merely concerned with the competence of their sensei to be team leader if she played favoritism so blatantly. But it's also true that in his "objective" statements about his new sensei and teammate that there was an underlying dissatisfaction at the way they conducted themselves.

"I think I'd like to meet your teams," Sasuke said.

"What?! I can't expose my precious Sasuke to that filth!" Karin protested.

"That would not be necessary, Sasuke-sama," Kimimaro hastened to reassure Sasuke.

Sasuke's smile was half amused, half worried. "I am your clan head," he said to Juugo and Kimimaro. "And as a friend," this he said to Karin, "it is only right that I keep your best interests in mind. Based on your… comments, I worry whether your current teams are dependable or not and would like to meet them in person to ascertain their capabilities with my own eyes."

"But-"

"Please bring them over for dinner. I also think it would be beneficial to you to bond with your teams outside of training."

"But, but, but!"

"Please coordinate with your teammates and see when they are all free."

"…Understood." Kimimaro nodded.

"But…! Aw, fine!" Karin huffed.

Juugo just nodded in acknowledgement to the request. When Sasuke pulled rank on them it was hard to refuse him. Sasuke would only pull that card if he truly thought that what he was doing was for their best interest, and Juugo could never begrudge Sasuke for caring. In fact, his cheeks warmed slightly at the sentiment.

xxx

For the sake of everyone's sanity, Sasuke decided it was better to work with one team at a time. Karin's team was the first to come over for dinner. Naruto had wanted to come for dinner again, and after some deliberation Sasuke relented. It might be helpful to have Naruto as a mood maker and to divert some of the tension. Or maybe that was just wishful thinking.

Sasuke could not for the life of him understand what went wrong between Karin and Naruto. He thought the two Uzumaki members would be thrilled to meet each other, and they seemed to be on the road to becoming friends when they first met, but when Naruto came back to the Uchiha Compound the second time, which was two weeks after the first time, Karin was spitting fire as soon as she laid eyes on the blond.

Naruto was understandably nervous around Karin. He wasn't hostile to Karin like the redhead was to him, but he also didn't make as much of an effort as Sasuke thought he would in patching up their relationship. Naruto was always thickheaded and resilient. If someone didn't want to be his friend, he would pester that person until he or she gave in. If someone were mean to him, he'd give as good as he got. But to Karin, it was like he had metaphorically rolled over and accepted that she just wasn't going to like him and he wasn't going to retaliate or do anything about it. Sasuke had tried to question him on it, but Naruto just stammered and blushed, and then he ran away. It was very uncharacteristic of the loud blond.

Nevertheless, Naruto was there on the day that Karin's team was scheduled to arrive. As Naruto bounced around the house, excited to meet an actual genin team, Sasuke, not for the first time, wondered if it was a good idea that he let slip about the team dinner and then actually allowed Naruto to come.

Kimimaro and Juugo were away with their team on their first C-rank. It was so convenient that Sasuke thought the fates must have planned it.

"I'm home." Karin announced listlessly.

"You live next door." Naruto corrected her.

"You!" She hissed. "What are _you_ doing here?"

"I invited him," Sasuke stepped in before a hissing match could break out. "Welcome." He smiled apologetically at Karin and she caved.

She sighed and stepped off to one side so that her team can enter. "This is Creepy, Freaky, and Shitty."

"Are those really their names?" Naruto wondered. Karin wanted to hit him.

Sasuke's eyes widened at the sight of her team. She gave him a look like "I told you so. They're freaks." Then he composed himself and bowed, "Welcome." He gave her team a dazzling smile that had her melting in her boots. "My name is Uchiha Sasuke. Thank you for always looking after my friend, Karin."

"Thank you for inviting us into your home, most youthful friend of my student!" Karin is amazed by Sasuke's composure. He kept a pleasant look on his face and didn't even twitch. "My name is Maito Gai. These are my students, Rock Lee and Hyuuga Neji." Gai placed a hand on each boy's shoulder as he introduced him.

"Osu!" Rock Lee greeted.

Neji nodded his head in greeting.

"So you are the famed Uchiha Sasuke-kun," Lee said. "I have heard much about you."

Sasuke glanced at Karin out of the corner of his eye. She did not even have the decency to look embarrassed.

"You took on the burdens of a clan head at such a young age. All for the sake of your friends! I am deeply moved by your story!" Lee enthused.

"The Council won't officially recognize him as clan head until he's at least jonin rank," Neji said.

"Ah, but for all intents and purposes, Sasuke is now the Uchiha Head. We should pay him due respect," Gai said.

"Don't stand on formalities. Please come in." Sasuke gestured for them to go in. Neji and Lee toed off their sandals and changed into slippers.

"Ha ha ha." Gai boomed with laughter. "Such a delightfully polite Uchiha." He reached forward a hand to clap Sasuke on the shoulder. Sasuke flinched away, a momentary look of horror on his face. Gai took note. So as to not draw attention to the Uchiha's flinch, he continued reaching forward, a little slower, and patted Sasuke quickly on the shoulder.

At the same time Naruto bellowed his introduction, drawing Team Gai's attention onto him.

Sasuke held himself still. It wasn't disgust that made the Uchiha flinch. Having received constant weird out and disgusted looks for his eccentricities, Gai can read the look of disgust even with his back turned. He filed the information away.

Once his team were done changing footwear and moved into the house, Gai quickly changed shoes and followed.

In the dining room, a young boy of seven years was setting the table. Sasuke introduced the boy as his adopted brother, Ranmaru. The boy was polite. He bobbed his head cutely and made his introductions.

"Naruto-san, will you help me bring out the dishes?" Sasuke requested of the blond.

Gai, his team, and Ranmaru took seats at the table as Sasuke and Naruto went into the kitchen to get the food.

Once they were out of earshot, Naruto whispered to Sasuke, "Hey, Sasuke. Did you know Big Fuzzy Eyebrows from before or something?"

"Fuzzy…" Sasuke shook his head and abandoned that line of thought. "No, I don't."

"But you-"

"Let's hurry up, Naruto-san. The food will get cold."

Naruto understood a dismissal when he heard one, but that didn't mean he had to like it. He pouted and quickly brought the food to the dining room.

After a round of "itadakimasu" everyone dug in.

"This food is scrumptious. Did Karin-san prepare it?" Lee asked.

"As if I would ever cook anything for you, Freak!"

"Ah ha ha ha, Karin-san is as youthful as ever, right Gai-sensei?"

"You're absolutely right, Lee!"

"Gai-sensei!"

"Lee!"

"Gai-"

A vein popped in Karin's temple.

"Onii-sama made everything," Ranmaru chimed in.

"Ooh?" Gai sounded delighted at the prospect. Sasuke sweat dropped.

"If you have the time to perfect your cooking skills, then you should be training." Neji said.

Karin blew a fuse, "Unlike you haughty Hyuuga, we don't have _servants_ scuttling around to do the menial chores for us. You should be _honored_ to be eating food made by Sasuke-kun!"

The chopsticks in Neji's hand snapped.

"Naruto!" Sasuke shouted.

Everyone else quieted as Naruto jumped in his seat. "What!" He didn't even do anything. Yet.

"Could you get a new pair of chopsticks for Neji-san, please?"

"I'll get it," Ranmaru volunteered.

Awkward silence descended in the room. Sasuke held back a sigh and refrained from massaging his nose bridge. He was beginning to wonder if this was such a good idea after all.

Ranmaru returned with the chopsticks and Sasuke petted him on the head. Ranmaru smiled and leaned into his touch.

"Sasuke-kun," Lee spoke up. "I heard that you were popular with the ladies, perhaps you can give me some advice. I fell in love with a girl, but she keeps rejecting me, I don't know what I'm doing wrong."

"Huh?" Sasuke was completely blindsided by the change in topic. "Ah, well, I'm not- uh…" he sighed. At least this was a fairly safe and normal topic. "Why don't you tell us how you two met and we'll go from there?"

So Lee regaled them with the story of how he met his fated angel. Karin and Neji had heard the story so many times that they were sick of it. Gai was beaming at his student and going on and on about the springtime of youth.

When Lee finished his story, Naruto was the one to point out, "So you don't even know her name yet?"

"She refuses to tell me."

"Well, if she won't even tell you her name, how do you expect her to agree to go out with you?" Naruto asked. Karin was surprised by his insight. Of course she would never admit as such.

"Then how should I find out her name?"

"Hmm…" Naruto rubbed his chin. "Maybe you could follow her around and wait for someone to say her name."

"That's a fabulous idea, Naruto-kun."

Karin sighed at their stupidity. Forget insightful, Naruto was complete and utter nonsense.

"No." Sasuke opposed the suggestion. "That is nothing but stalking. Your relationship will not be pure if you do something like that." Sasuke almost cringed at his own words, but it was the best way to get through to someone as straightforward, youthful, and ingenuous as Lee.

Gai nodded.

Lee cried rivers of tears. "Then what should I doooo?"

Sasuke twitched. "Please stop crying, Lee-san."

Naruto handed Lee a napkin. Lee blew his nose.

"To begin with, I think you're approaching her too forcefully. You have to admit, Lee-san, you're a bit… eccentric, and this may be off putting to some, well, most girls. You need to slow down and establish a friendship with her first."

"I see, I see." Lee nodded. Then his shoulders slumped. "But how do I go about being her friend if she pushes me away every time she sees me?"

"If she's a year younger than you, trains in the morning, and doesn't wear a forehead protector, then she's probably a student at the Academy aiming to become a ninja. She sounds pretty dedicated. Perhaps you could offer to train her. Be her sparring partner."

"You're so smart, Sasuke-kun." Karin cooed as she latched onto Sasuke's left arm and nuzzled into his neck. From across the table Naruto shifted uncomfortably as he watched the contact between Sasuke and Karin.

Sasuke was just about to put down his chopsticks and push Karin off him when Lee stood up, startling everyone except Gai. "Such a youthful idea!" He bowed. "Thank you for your advice, Sasuke-sensei!"

"Huh?"

"You are my sensei in love," Lee declared.

Sasuke opened his mouth to protest. Ranmaru giggled. Due to Ranmaru's Kekkei Genkai he can read people's chakra, and in a way, read their thoughts and moods. Straightforward people like Naruto and now Lee seem to be Ranmaru's favorite type to read, because the candidness is soothing and at times like this, entertaining.

Sasuke sighed in defeat. He had a premonition that Lee might become a stable in the Uchiha household if this keeps up. At least Ranmaru will be pleased. "Just don't come to me over every little problem, and I'll try to give you what advice I can."

"Thank you, Sasuke-sensei."

Sasuke twitched. "I'm seriously not a love expert. There is no guarantee that she'll agree to train with you."

"But it's worth a shot."

"I suppose."

After that, dinner went a little smoother.


	14. Chapter 14

A/N: Managed one more update before the end of break. Yay! Back to the grind tomorrow. Boo...

* * *

Chapter 14

Dinner Lineup, Take 2

"You again?" Sakura deadpanned. "Don't you ever get tired?"

"Never! The springtime of youth burns brightly within me."

"Ugh. Come another foot closer and I'll punch you into the Hokage Mountain."

"Ahh, such youthful declarations so early in the morning."

Sakura twitched. This creep was seriously getting on her nerves.

"Allow me to train with you!"

"Huh?"

"You aspire to be a ninja, do you not? I am a genin. I can help you train."

"Why would I want to-"

An explosion of smoke went off next to Lee and an older copy of Lee emerged from the smoke. "What a splendid idea, my pupil. Training with an Academy student will teach you restraint."

"Yes, Gai-sensei!"

Sakura twitched. Adult creeper was the sensei of mini-creeper?

"Fine!" Sakura snapped. She cracked her knuckles. "I'll show you _restraint_." She was peeved. How dare they underestimate her? Was it because she wasn't a ninja yet? Was it because she was a girl? Was it because she was a _civilian_? She's been working her butt off. There's no way she'll go down that easily.

Or so Sakura thought.

She got her butt handed to her soundly. In three- no, not even, two point twenty-five seconds flat.

She stared up at the lighting sky in disbelief. Then she pushed herself up with a growl. "Again."

Three seconds later she was admiring the clouds again.

She sat up slower this time.

Lee worried his bottom lip. Did he overdo it? He already held back a lot. Sasuke told him if the girl he liked was as determined as she sounded then he should take her down quickly to attack her pride. Doing so will light a fire of competition in her. But if the girl was just playing at ninja or had low self-esteem, then doing so will destroy her spirit and subsequently any chances he had with her. Lee was certain that the girl of his dreams was of the former variety. But…

She looked up at him and glared.

There was _fire_ in her eyes.

"My name is Haruno Sakura. Someday I will become the strongest kunoichi in Konoha!"

"Sakura-san!" Lee blushed. She looked like a livid tiger. Absolutely lethal and absolutely beautiful.

"Just you watch. I will hand your butt to you on a silver platter one of these days."

"I look forward to that day!"

And that's how Haruno Sakura came to train under Rock Lee, and by extension, Maito Gai. But that's a whole other world of freaky.

xxx

"What is this for?" Sasuke was afraid to ask. As soon as he opened the front door he was met with a face full of lotus flowers.

"It worked, Sasuke-sensei!" Lee enthused.

"What? Oh. I'm glad," Sasuke said offhandedly, if not a bit surprised at the unexpected results.

He didn't really think his advice would work out for Lee, especially not when it came to prepubescent girls. He had only been trying to offer a word of comfort to appease the then hysterical boy and his overdramatic sensei. Mostly, he was trying not to end the team dinner on an explosive note.

"This is for you to thank you for your love advice!"

"Lee-san…"

"Yes, sensei!"

"You're not supposed to give flowers to me, you're supposed to give them to the girl you like."

"Oh, you're right. Very well, I shall take these to her right now!"

"Hold it." Sasuke snagged Lee by the collar. "Remember I said to take it slow. You only just became training partners with her. If you give her flowers all of a sudden you'll just scare her off again."

Lee blushed.

"Don't tell me, you already gave her flowers."

Lee nodded. "A dozen red roses to celebrate our one week anniversary of meeting."

"So before she agreed to train with you then." Sasuke sighed. "Then this might still be salvageable. Listen, no flowers or other gifts unless there's an occasion, like her birthday or something. Instead, um, why don't you take her to a teahouse, treat her to food after your training sessions. That would be a reasonable approach."

Lee's eyes sparkled. "Such wise advice. As expected of my sensei in love."

"I'm really not-" Sasuke sighed, giving up the argument as a lost cause. He clapped a hand onto Lee's shoulder. "Lee-san."

"Yes, sensei?"

Sasuke held back a twitch at the form of address and went on, "Just, um, don't be too disheartened if things don't work out in the end, okay? Interest is not something you can force upon another."

"Sensei…" Lee's enthusiasm dropped a few notches as he pondered Sasuke's words, but Sasuke had a feeling that the genin wasn't really processing the full meaning yet.

Ranmaru chose that moment to join in. "Good morning, Lee-san." Ranmaru greeted as he pattered up to the entryway.

Lee perked up again. "Good morning, Ranmaru-kun!"

Ranmaru pointedly looked at Sasuke's hand on Lee's shoulder. "Are those flowers for onii-sama?"

Sasuke sweatdropped and quickly retracted his hand. Lee stuttered. They were, but since Sasuke said they weren't appropriate, he didn't know what to do now.

 _Ranmaru, you little rascal_ , Sasuke thought fondly.

"The rice should be done now, why don't you go check on it."

"Okay, onii-sama."

Sasuke turned to Lee once Ranmaru was out of sight, but Sasuke knew Ranmaru would still be able to hear what was being said due to his Kekkei Genkai, and he would probably have a laugh with this. Sasuke fought to keep his face straight as he said, "Lee-san."

"Yes."

"Do you like Naruto-san? I mean as a friend."

"Of course! Naruto-kun is a most youth-"

"Okay, that's good. Why don't you give these flowers to Naruto-san and tell him they're for him because you like him?"

"Ahh, to strengthen the bonds of friendship. I understand, Sasuke-sensei. I shall deliver these flowers to Naruto in ten minutes, if I don't do so in the allotted time then I shall run five laps around Konoha."

"You go do that, Lee-san."

xxx

"Sasuke! Heeeeelp me!"

"Naruto-san. Why are you panicking so much?"

"Fuzzy Eyebrows gave me flowers this morning and said that he _liked_ me! I thought he already had a crush on some girl, why is he saying he likes me?"

Sasuke blinked at Naruto innocently. "I'm not sure, Naruto-san. Maybe Lee-san is bisexual. The girl he likes is the one he trains with, and maybe the boy he likes is you."

"What? What?! That's impossible! How can you like two people at once? Aren't you supposed to dedicate yourself solely to one person?"

"My, my, Naruto-san. I never pegged you for a romantic."

"Sasuke," Naruto whined.

"Well, you're correct, the majority of the population is monogamous, but there are people who believe in polyamory too."

"Poly-what?"

"Look it up, Naruto-san."

"It doesn't make sense!" Naruto said, pulling at his hair. "I mean- I mean, if Lee has to like a guy then why can't it be Neji? Neji is kind of on the pretty side, and they're on the same team!"

"What does that have to-"

"Heck, you're ten times prettier than Neji. If Lee is going to fall for a guy then it should be you! Not to mention you're much nicer than Neji. That guy has a stick up his ass the size of the Hokage Tower! Erm, not that I _want_ Lee to like you, because _I_ li- I mean, not that you're not likeable, just that-"

"All right. I get it. I think… Honestly, I don't know what to do with you sometimes."

"Huh?"

"Do you want to come over for dinner this weekend?"

"Free food?"

Sasuke chuckled. "Yes, free food."

"All right. I'm totally coming –ttebayo!"

"Good. I'm counting on you."

"Counting on me?"

xxx

After the little debacle with Team Gai, Sasuke really was not looking forward to Juugo and Kimimaro's team, but they had already secured a free day for their entire team to come over for dinner so it was too late to cancel.

Having Naruto over for dinner last time turned out to be surprisingly helpful, so he invited Naruto again. Karin decided to go out for dinner so that she won't have to deal with the crazy of Kimimaro and Juugo's team. After some prompting Karin agreed to eat dinner with her team at a restaurant. Whether she'll uphold that promise or not is another matter.

Right on time, the door opened. "We're home."

Ranmaru bounded to the front door. "Welcome home!"

Sasuke followed at a more sedate pace. Naruto was in the dining room setting the table. "Welcome home." He smiled at Kimimaro and Juugo. They both smiled back as they said their greetings.

"Aww, isn't this the cutest thing ever. They're actually smiling."

Sasuke turned to the woman who made that comment. She looked to be in her mid-twenties with teal eyes and long dark hair woven into a thin braid down her back. She wore a more form fitting version of the jonin uniform, and in place of the usual flank jacket was a sleeveless indigo tunic tied together with a bolt of pink fabric.

"Welcome. You must be their jonin-sensei."

"Makimachi Misao at your service. This is Tenten."

As Sasuke caught sight of the third teammate, his lips twitched, as if in amusement.

"Uchiha Sasuke. This is my adopted brother, Ranmaru. Thank you for always looking after my kinsmen, Juugo and Kimimaro."

"So you're the famous Uchiha Sasuke, huh? Kimimaro and Juugo are absolutely fanatic about you, though they try not to let it show." Misao smirked and leaned into Sasuke's personal space. She studied him, nodded, and grinned. "You're cute."

Pink bloomed on Sasuke's cheeks and he turned away. "Please come inside."

Tenten giggled behind her hand. She was inclined to agree with her sensei. Not only was Sasuke pleasant to look at, but also his mannerism was polite and cute.

"Please excuse us for intruding," Tenten said as she changed into house slippers and entered.

Team Misao was led to the dining room where the table was already set and plated with steaming hot food. Naruto sat with his legs swinging impatiently for dinner to start.

"Yo, my name is Uzumaki Naruto! I'm Sasuke's friend." He said by way of introduction.

"I'm Tenten."

Misao paused in the doorway and blinked at Naruto.

"Is something the matter?" Sasuke asked. The blush was gone and there was a steel of challenge in his eyes.

Misao got the feeling that she was just beginning to scrap the surface of the enigma known as Sasuke. She thought she might be starting to understand Juugo and Kimimaro's devotion to the Last Uchiha. She smiled. "Everything is perfectly fine." Misao stepped into the dining room. "I'm Makimachi Misao, sensei to these emo-brats and this delightful young kunoichi." She went to ruffle Kimimaro and Juugo's hair as she said this. Juugo endured it with a blush, but Kimimaro slipped away from Misao and took a seat. Tenten giggled like it was a common occurrence.

Soon they were all seated and making small talk as they ate. Thankfully Team Misao was a lot calmer than Team Gai. As Sasuke observed the interactions between his adopted family and their team he began to see the underlying dynamics.

Misao was cheerful, and in comparison to her team, loud. She was like Naruto in some ways. Just like how Kimimaro and Juugo did not know how to handle Naruto's exuberance, they did not know how to communicate with their sensei. Defensively, they drew up a wall between them and Misao. Misao noticed this and did her best to rectify the situation, but her method was by forcefully dragging Juugo and Kimimaro into the fun. It certainly wasn't the best way to approach them. The two adopted Uchiha preferred more subtlety and restrain.

Tenten, in contrast, was more opened to adventure and more likely to go along with whatever Misao cooked up, thus making it appear as if they were closer to each other. The way Tenten interacted with Juugo and Kimimaro was the way a newcomer might act when trying to fit into an already formed group. She pushed as much as she dared, but backed up often to give the boys breathing room, in case she chased them off.

Kimimaro and Juugo were making an effort to connect with their team after Sasuke's little pep talk, but their discomfort was so evident that it was hilarious.

All in all, Sasuke deduced that he didn't have to worry too much about Team Misao. He didn't know about Misao's skills, but she had to have made jonin for a reason. Tenten was a serious and competent kunoichi. In terms of capability, Sasuke had no compunctions about this team and he had a feeling that their team dynamics will level out somehow.

It was Team Gai that he was worried about. Originally, Tenten served as a buffer and mediator in Team Gai, but now she has been switched over to Team Misao. Karin worked with the rest of Team Gai as well as oil did with fire. Which is to say her personality fitted in perfectly with all the crazy to explosive results, and that probably wasn't a healthy outcome. At least every member of Team Gai was a skilled ninja so he won't have to worry about Karin's safety.

After dinner, Naruto stayed behind to help with the dishes.

"That worked out well," Naruto laughed.

"Yeah," Sasuke huffed with relief.

Now he just had to worry about his future team. He honestly had no idea how he was going to handle the misfits of Team Seven or even if his new team will parallel the original. Anything is possible after seeing Team Gai and Team Misao.

In all honesty, Sasuke hadn't wanted to get involve in any of this ninja fiasco. He was just running through some cathartic exercises, a memory from his old life, when those damn missing-nin had saw fit to try and kidnap a Uchiha for experimenting. News of the Uchiha Massacre had yet to spread then, so the missing-nin had no idea that they had gotten the Last Uchiha.

Perhaps if Sasuke had stayed within the Compound or had gone to the Academy like the original Sasuke probably had, then he wouldn't be in this mess right now.

Sometimes, jerking awake after a particularly gruesome nightmare, Sasuke would wonder what his life would've been like if he had ran away from Konoha and became a farmer instead. Then he'd remember the bloody eyes he inherited and knew he would not be safe on his own for long. The last thing he wanted was to be caught and experimented on. Even dying a second death was preferable to that.

He sighed. No use pondering on what-ifs anymore. The ripples began when he saw a little blond boy being chased away from a store with a broomstick, or perhaps it was even before that. Either way it was too late to take back that pebble.

* * *

A/N: To the reviewer who was concerned with the wording of Sasuke's advice from the previous chapter… I am in agreement that just because you're nice to somebody it doesn't mean that person is obligated to like you back, which is why near the end of the last chapter I had Sasuke add, "There is no guarantee…" but perhaps that didn't convey my intentions clear enough, so I added a bit more dialogue to this chapter. Hopefully that'll soothe your concerns somewhat. Thank you for reading and leaving a review. You took the time to write a review because it matters to you and I appreciate it.

 **To all readers,** the characters' thoughts and actions are not a reflection of the writer's personal opinion. Characters can do the most heroic or despicable things. That's what makes them interesting and complex, and adds to the drama of a story. Feel free to discuss and dissect the characters' actions. I encourage positive and critical discourse.


	15. Chapter 15

A/N: A reviewer asked "So... is everyone gay or something?" I don't know if you meant that question seriously or not since there was nothing else in your review except that question, but the fun and non-serious answer is: "Yaas, every guy shall go gay for Sasuke, and every gal will go gaga for Sakura. Lol. JK." The serious answer is: "At the core this is a story about FRIENDSHIP and FAMILY. Anything potentially romantic is just the extra whipped cream on top. But to be strictly correct, the only crushes I've confirmed thus far is Karin and Sakura's crush on Sasuke. That's ALL. And they're both heteronormative. Everything else is just teasing that might or might not become more serious later on depending on how the characters react or where the muse goes. But even if everyone in my story is gay, my question to you is: "Is that a problem?" [I wanted to reply to you through private message, but your PM function was disabled.]

* * *

Chapter 15

The Unwitting Life Line

"Naruto. Your left side is too open." Sasuke observed.

"Huh? How?" Naruto dropped his arms from the guard position he brought up when Sasuke went in for an ax kick.

"When you block like that, you- never mind. You learn better by doing don't you? So let me show you instead," Sasuke said, and with that he took a stance and resumed their taijutsu training.

Somehow Naruto had progressed from being just a classmate to becoming Sasuke's friend. It was one of those relationships that grew inconspicuously and by the time you realized it, it had already sprouted all over you like a fungi, and was still multiplying by the minute.

It began with a rather rambunctious prank in class. Iruka-sensei was covering history; something that Sasuke tried hard to pay attention to since he wasn't a great Naruto fanatic before and so did not retain much future knowledge to help him along. It probably didn't matter considering the changes already wrought, but every advantage helped. And Naruto was being disruptive in class because according to him history was boring and had no use in the present. Fed up with Naruto's antics, Sasuke shouted for him to stop, which he surprisingly complied with.

Then Sasuke found out the real reason that Naruto had stopped was because in Sasuke's irritation he had dropped honorifics with Naruto's name and the blond would not let that go. Sasuke tried to revert back to honorifics, but the damage was already done. So it was with some trepidation that Sasuke finally acknowledged that he and Naruto were friends; and probably had been friends for a while now.

Once coming to the conclusion that they were friends, Sasuke simply could not ignore the hot mess of a student that Naruto was. Naruto often skipped class to pull pranks or to laze around with Shikamaru, Chouji and Kiba. If he was in class then he was sleeping, pulling pranks, or simply zoning out. His taijutsu was horrible and his ninjutsu was laughable. Watching Naruto was like watching a train wreak.

Finally, Sasuke had pulled Naruto aside after school to tutor him from time to time. They started with academics, Naruto's dreaded enemy.

"Naruto. How do you expect to become Hokage if you don't pay attention to academics?" Sasuke scolded. Naruto opened his mouth, but Sasuke stopped him, "No, you can't just beat everyone up on your way to the top. You have to be subtle sometimes and learn tactics."

Naruto pouted and dropped his forehead onto his workbooks.

Sasuke massaged his nose bridge. "Naruto, do you know what the Sandaime's nickname is?"

"Ero-jiji?"

Sasuke held back a snort. "Try the other one."

"It's Professor, you idiot." Karin interjected. She was sitting in the living room with them, reading through a medical scroll. More scrolls on human anatomy and fuuinjutsu were piled next to her.

"Professor?" Naruto repeated.

"Yes, and why do you think that is?"

"Um, 'cause he's smart?"

"Yes."

"Really? That perverted old man is smart?"

"Yes, and if you want to be Hokage then you should at least make an effort."

"Not that he has much going on in that department," Karin jibed.

Naruto growled. "I'll show you," he pointed his pencil at Karin, "I'll pass the next exam, dattebayo!"

"Only pass it?" There was a challenge written in the quirk of her eyebrow.

"I- I'll score a hundred on it!"

"Not likely," Karin scoffed.

Steam leaked from Naruto's ears. "Sasuke! Explain this section to me."

Sasuke chuckled. "Okay, okay. Now pay attention."

Turns out, with patient one-on-one teaching and a bit of ribbing from Karin, Naruto was a very motivated student. He still had a short attention span, but for the periods he does focus, he was actually a pretty good student.

The next area that Sasuke worked on with Naruto was taijutsu. Naruto had such a big pool of chakra that conventional teachings just wasn't the best fit for him, and Sasuke couldn't help holding on to a secret hope that Naruto would fail the exam so that he would then learn his signature move and not to mention learn about the responsibility he carried within him.

Thus, it was with those thoughts that Sasuke and Naruto were working on their taijutsu after school. As expected, Naruto learned best by doing. Sasuke repeatedly aimed for Naruto's weak spots, and after getting hit in the same areas again and again, Naruto was learning to watch out for those openings.

Naruto wasn't the only one to benefit from their training sessions. The blond was not known as the most surprising ninja for nothing. His fighting style was even more unorthodox and creative than Sasuke and Karin. Fighting against Naruto taught Sasuke to think outside of the box. In some ways it was exhilarating to fight against Naruto, and Sasuke always looked forward to what new tricks and traps Naruto might use.

Sasuke considered it a victory as a teacher when Naruto managed to force him back and knock him into the pond. Of course Karin threw a fit and then proceeded to kick Naruto into a tree.

It was just another day at the Uchiha residence.

xxx

"Sasuke-sensei! As always your advice is spot on. At first my beautiful lotus blossom kept rejecting my offers to go to a teahouse, but today she finally agreed! This ohagi is a souvenir from the teahouse. Please accept it with my compliments."

"Lee-san…" Sasuke sweatdropped at the parcel of sweets being pushed into his face. Then he brightened with an idea. "I would love to share this with Naruto… But I'm a little held up at the moment. Will you help me deliver this ohagi to Naruto? Let him know that you bought it and that it's from the heart. If you don't deliver it within five minutes then upon delivery you must immediately go and run five laps around Konoha."

"Yes! I will do as you say, Sasuke-sensei!" With that Lee ran off in search of Naruto, leaving Sasuke coughing in the dust he left behind.

"That was very mischievous of you," Ranmaru grinned up at him.

Sasuke smiled and patted Ranmaru on the head. "Just having a little fun."

Ranmaru giggled and followed Sasuke inside.

xxx

"Sasuke! Sasuke!"

"Please stop banging on my front door like that. You'll knock it down," Sasuke chided.

"It happened again."

"What happened?"

"Fuzzy Eyebrows!"

Sasuke studied Naruto's eyebrow with a critical eye. "They look the same as usual to me."

"No, I mean Fuzzy Eyebrows, he gave me ohagi this time and said they were from the _heart_ , dattebayo! How am I supposed to handle this? You're the love expert right?"

"I keep telling you people I'm not some love guru." Sasuke heaved an exaggerated sigh. "And?"

"And? I need help, dattebayo!"

"I mean did you accept it? The ohagi that is."

"Well, yeah. It's free food. And Fuzzy Eyebrows ran off so even if I wanted to I couldn't give them back."

"Then, did you eat them?"

"Free food, Sasuke."

"Right," Sasuke's smile was indulgent and amused. "By accepting the gift and then consuming it, you are essentially accepting the giver's feelings for you."

"What?!"

"I'm sorry Naruto, but it's too late to turn back now." Sasuke patted Naruto's shoulder in commiseration. "You're going to have to accept responsibility for what you've done."

"Noooo!" Naruto wailed grabbing onto his sunshine locks. "Say it isn't so Sasuke!"

"You're the one who led him on." Sasuke shook his head. "You shouldn't be playing around with Lee-san's feelings like that. Lee-san is a very pure and straightforward individual."

"Not even Sasuke is on my side anymore?!"

"Shame on you, Naruto-nii-san. Lee-nii-san is going to be very hurt by this," Ranmaru piped up. He had followed Sasuke to the front door when he heard Naruto shouting.

"Even Ranmaru is saying this…" Naruto deflated. A cloud of doom hung over his head.

"I'm afraid you'll have to be upfront and honest about your feelings towards Lee-san. Don't lead him on anymore than this, Naruto." Sasuke said sternly.

Naruto straightened up. "You're right. I have to clear up this misunderstanding." Without so much as a by your leave, Naruto was running off in search of Lee.

As soon as the hyperactive blond was out of sight, Ranmaru and Sasuke looked at each other. Then they broke down into peals of laughter, right there, standing at the front door.

From the training field behind the house, Kimimaro and Juugo startled at the sound. They stopped their training and peered into the hallway to see Sasuke and Ranmaru doubled over with laughter. For a rare moment, Sasuke looked like the eleven-year-old child that he was supposed to be, instead of the clan head that he tried to be.

From a second story window of the house next door, Karin pouted after Naruto's retreating form with envy. Sasuke had never laughed so freely before Naruto's arrival.

xxx

"I've been wondering what's gotten Naruto and my student so worked up lately," Gai said sipping at the tea that Sasuke served. He looked at Sasuke from the corner of his eyes. "So you were the culprit."

"Just having a little fun," Ranmaru chirped as he bit into a senbei. Then he laughed at something only his eyes could see, "By the way, they're still blushing when they touch each other anywhere that's not on the arm or the leg."

"Are you going to tell?" Sasuke teased as he placed down cups of tea for Lee and Naruto.

The two had gotten over their misunderstanding after much blushing, stammering, and youthful declarations, and were now sparring each other in the training field behind the house. Sasuke wished he were there to see it when it happened, but then they would've cottoned onto his little prank if he had burst out into laughter at their unfortunate misunderstanding. As of now the two still had no idea that Sasuke had set them up.

"I am glad to see that you are enjoying your youth!" Gai said with a firm nod.

Sasuke just gave the Green Beast a vague smile and munched on a senbei himself.

"Those are some weights you have on." Gai noted.

Sasuke paused. "As expected from a taijutsu expert," he remarked and sipped on his tea. Sasuke have been training with weights for some time now. He had upped the weights on his arms and legs just yesterday and was still getting used to the new weight. Gai must've noticed the jerkiness in his movements.

"Are you following a regime with your weights? If you're not careful you can end up causing damage to yourself."

"I am using reasonable amounts under the consultant of a medic-nin," Sasuke assured.

Gai nodded in approval and then raised an eyebrow at the almost imperceptible shiver that racked Sasuke's body. "Sasuke, are you feeling unwell?"

"I'm fine."

"You're-"

"Side effects." Sasuke gritted out and sipped his tea more forcefully.

"From what?"

"… Mithridatism."

"What?!" Gai exclaimed.

"It's fine," Sasuke reiterated. "I'm working with an expert poison master and I'm monitoring my dosage."

"That's a very dangerous practice! You could-"

"I know." Sasuke sighed. "But I've been drugged before," a hand unconsciously comes up to rub at his neck, "and I don't want it to happen so easily again, so I've been building up my resistance. I'm actually frustrated that my progress in this area is going so slowly, but I have to be careful not to take too much or else I won't have the strength and focus to work on other areas of training."

"This is not something you can rush."

"I _know_."

"…Who was it? The one that drugged you?" Gai heard about the kidnapping of Uchiha Sasuke and suspected that Sasuke might be talking about that time period, but he couldn't help asking, couldn't help prodding at the boy with too heavy shoulders to open up a little.

"I don't want to talk about it." Sasuke stood up abruptly. "Ranmaru, please look after our guests. I'm retiring for the day."

"Okay…" Ranmaru murmured into his tea. He peeked up at Sasuke uncertainly through his eyelashes.

Sasuke ruffled his hair and left the room, presumably to go sleep off whatever poison he introduced into his system.

"Why is your brother pushing himself so hard?" Gai directed the question to Ranmaru.

"It's because of us."

"Us?"

Ranmaru nodded. "Me, Kimimaro-nii-san, Juugo-nii-san, and even Karin-nee-san. The Elders didn't like us at first, having a bunch of outsiders running around with the Uchiha name. If an outsider marries into the clan and stays in the clan then that is still acceptable, but as you can see, that doesn't work out with our situation."

Gai couldn't help noticing how eloquent and perceptive the young purple-haired boy was. It was like he experienced too much, saw too much, and heard too much for his age.

"In order to keep us with him, onii-sama is working hard to prove himself as the future clan head. And since they won't bestow the title of clan head to him until he makes jonin, he feels like there is extra pressure on him to maintain the clan as he is now, with no official title and no way of obtaining minor emancipation until he becomes a genin.

"And to be honest, when I first met onii-sama and the others, excluding myself, onii-sama was the weakest one in the group. He was dexterous and fast, but anyone in the group could've taken him down if they were serious about it and had chosen to do so. I suspect he suffers from low self-esteem and still does till this day. He believes that in order to be clan head, he has to be the strongest one in the Compound. I wish he would rely on us more. Like he used to when we were traveling together. It's as if ever since onii-sama entered the gates of Konoha he picked up a weight that he refuses to share..."

Gai detected a note of resentment against Konoha in Ranmaru's voice, but did not comment on it. It was understandable considering the child's concern for his older brother. Politics had never been Gai's cup of tea, and his eccentric behavior helped to buffer some of the village's political influence from him. It was like the Elders decided he was too much of a headache to deal with. They also underestimated him a lot, thinking him more dull-witted than he is, but he didn't earn his jonin vest by being stupid and brash.

When Ranmaru looked up at him with those discerning eyes, Gai knew that the child could see through his exuberant personality to the keen mind underneath.

"Thank you for sharing this with me," Gai said unusually solemn. "I will do what I can to look out for your brother."

Ranmaru nodded and smiled in thanks.

A shout came from the training field as Naruto was dunked into the pond. Ranmaru laughed a little.

"I'm thankful for Naruto-nii-san. Onii-sama won't admit it, but ever since Naruto-nii-san joined the family, onii-sama has been much happier."

"That boy really is something." Gai agreed. "Straightforward and honest, like a ray of sunshine that penetrates all darkness."

* * *

A/N: This chapter is meant to highlight the fact that OC!Sasuke is not a mastermind pulling the strings of canon events from the shadows. This is not that type of story. The OC was thrown into Sasuke's body without so much as a by your leave and is just trying to make the best out of his given circumstances. He may try to hold himself back from forming certain bonds in a misguided attempt to "preserve canon," but those relationships can still creep up on him unexpectedly.


	16. Chapter 16

**Attention!** While my stories are largely not focused on romance, I _am_ an LGBTQ+ supporter, and I also love my heterosexual romances. If any one of the aforementioned things offend your delicate sensibilities then please don't read this story or any of my stories for that matter. Thank you very much.

To the rude guest reviewer: I have deleted your raging homophobic review. If you continue to come back to this fanfic in some warped attempt to punish yourself and leave behind a trail of piss under the protection of anonymity, then I will continue to delete your harmful and hateful comments, and report you if given the chance. I can understand if certain types of relationships turn you off, but that is no excuse to be hostile and disrespectful towards others, especially since I have not depicted a harmful romantic relationship - or any romantic relationship for that matter - in a positive light. You are free to stop reading at any time. The exit button is always at your disposal. I will respect your difference in opinion if you will respect mine. Live and let live. If you had been just a tiny bit polite in your words, then perhaps we could've had a civil dialogue.

Now here's your warning: There is a kiss between two people of the same sex in this chapter. Enjoy.

* * *

Chapter 16

Genin Starting Line

Sasuke shifted in bed. The blankets were tangled around his legs from the tossing and turning he did during the night. Haunting images ran through his dreamscape and he fought to wake up. His breathing hastened and then with a sharp intake of air his eyes flew open. They were red. In each eye, three tomoe spun around like a pinwheel caught in a storm gale.

He lay there panting on his bed. Cold sweat coated his face, neck, and back. Outside the birds have yet to wake and blue light shone in through the window, illuminating his room in a cold light. He pushed himself into a sitting position and cradled his head as he tried to regain his bearings. Knowing there would not be any strenuous activity planned for the day, Sasuke had taken a new dose of poison the day before. The active nightmare was probably a side effect of the poison.

Sasuke scrubbed a hand down his face. His eyes bleeding back to black. He probably sweated out most of the poison overnight. That was good. Grabbing a towel, he trudged into the bathroom to go through his morning ablutions.

After a long, hot shower, Sasuke got dressed in his new clothes. To mark his passage from a student to a ninja he had gotten a new wardrobe of clothes. Gone were the whites of childhood and the traditional high collars of the Uchiha clan. In its place was a short sleeved black tunic trimmed in white. The tunic wrapped around his front like a yukata and was belted at the waist with a length of deep red silk. Through the v-neckline of the tunic, a hint of the mesh undershirt he wore could be seen. For bottoms he wore simple black shorts. He switched out the blue cloth of the forehead protector for a black one and also bought black ninja sandals to match everything. Finally he wrapped his arms and legs with bandages for stability and it also helped to hide the weights he wore.

Sasuke looked at himself in the mirror. The sun was just beginning to rise and cast his room in a warmer glow, but the boy before the mirror was a somber image. Sasuke combed his hair quickly and pulled his long black locks up into a high ponytail instead of his usual low tail. His bangs came forward to frame his face. His hair was now just long enough to cover the Uchiha emblem sewed onto the back of his clothing. He knew long hair could become a liability for a ninja, but it was like a memento from his past life. He had long black hair then too. If time comes when he must cut his hair then he will do so without hesitation, but for now he will keep the blanket of comfort.

Sunlight continued to seep in, highlighting his face in the mirror, and for a moment his skin and facial scar was awash in the same color, camouflaging the scar. If Sasuke tilted his head forward then his bangs would be able to hide his scar, but there really was no need to hide away the scar. It was both a mark of pride and a reminder to him. Sasuke was proud of it because it was a scar he got protecting someone important to him, but it was also a reminder that he only got it in the first place because he wasn't strong enough to fight off the missing-nin and had to use his body as a meat shield instead. Everyday, looking into the mirror and seeing that scar is a reminder that he has to get stronger to protect everyone dear to him.

Today was the day of the team assignments. Naruto had failed despite Sasuke's tutoring. Naruto probably failed less horribly than he would have in the original storyline. Sasuke would never know, but he liked to think that his tutelage made a positive difference. He had heard the alarm bells go off last night and could only pray that it was Naruto who stole the Scroll of Forbidden Techniques and not Mizuki. Butterflies fluttered in his stomach and he knew they would not settle until he saw Naruto in the classroom, sporting a forehead protector.

When Sasuke entered the classroom, Naruto was not present yet. With his stomach still in knots, Sasuke found his seat by the window and waited. As he walked pass, nosebleeds erupted and a few fangirls fainted from his image change. He supposed he should have anticipated that, but even after all these years he still wasn't used to having fangirls. Mostly, he pretended they didn't exist.

"Sasuke-kun, good morning."

"Ah, Sakura. Morning."

"May I sit here?"

He nodded. Sakura took the seat beside him. She had changed out the blue cloth of her forehead protector for a green one and switched her old sandals for a new pair of green ones. Asides from that she still wore the same red qipao dress and green leggings. Sasuke thought the green looked nice on her. It brought out her eyes and made them more emerald than olive. He told her so, and she flushed a brilliant shade of red that had Sasuke chuckling and Sakura going even redder.

Finally, Naruto burst into the room with a rowdy greeting, flashing his shiny new forehead protector for all to see. Sasuke breathed a sigh of relief.

"Sasuke!" Naruto bounded up the steps to Sasuke and clambered onto the desk to present his forehead protector to Sasuke.

"Naruto."

"I passed, dattebayo!"

Sasuke smiled. "So I see, congratulations."

"What happened? I thought you failed the exam yesterday, Naruto." Sakura said.

"Heh heh, I took down a rogue ninja and got a field promotion!"

"How did that happen?"

Before Naruto could answer her, the boy behind Naruto elbowed the blond in the butt as he shifted backwards and then Naruto was flailing his arms as he tipped forward.

Sasuke's eyes widened in disbelief and didn't react quickly enough to dodge the lips that plastered onto his. He had completely forgotten about this moment in the original timeline and only just now remembered it. Honestly, what were the chances of it happening? The fates must be laughing.

They didn't immediately jump away from each other. Probably because they didn't hate each other's guts so the kiss wasn't as offensive as it could've been. Naruto regained his balance and rocked back onto his hunches.

"Sorry, sorry," the kid apologized for pushing Naruto accidentally.

"Sasuke?" Naruto's face was beet red. Sakura was speechless with shock, her mouth hanging open.

"Naruto!" The girls screeched. "How dare you steal Sasuke-kun's precious first kiss like that?!" They advanced menacingly.

"Hieee!" Naruto jumped off the table and started backing away.

"It's okay," Sasuke said, unperturbed. "I've already had my first kiss."

The fangirls froze at this.

"Wh- what?!" Naruto was the first to stammer out, followed by screeches from the fangirls.

Sasuke raised an eyebrow. "Is there a problem?"

"Who was it?" The fangirls demanded.

"I have no obligation to broadcast my personal life."

This shut the girls up, although they didn't look happy about it.

Naruto looked conflicted, but before Sasuke could ask him what was wrong, Iruka came into the room to announce the teams.

Sasuke breathed another sigh of relief when Team Seven was announced. It stayed the same. He snuck a glance at his new teammates who were conveniently sitting in the same row as him. Both Sakura and Naruto's rankings have gone up. Sakura was not only the top kunoichi in academics- closely followed by Hinata and Ino- but also her taijutsu ranking was above average. Sasuke had an inkling about why that may be. Not that he was complaining. But he was concerned that the change in scores may affect the team placements.

In retrospect, scores wasn't the only thing that determined team placements. Individual temperament and other factors also mattered. When Sasuke thought about it a little more, it was probably a given that he and Naruto would end up on Kakashi's team. Kakashi was the only ninja left in Konoha with a Sharingan, so logically he was the only one that could teach Sasuke how to utilize the dojutsu. As for Naruto, he was Minato's son and carrier of the kyuubi. Kakashi had close ties with Minato, and he was competent enough to handle the situation should anything go awry with the kyuubi. It was Sakura's placement that he was uncertain about.

Despite all this reasoning, Sasuke still wasn't assured until the teams were announced, but now that they were he could rest a little easier. Upon realizing his relief at the situation, Sasuke had to wonder again, why was he so desperate to have Naruto and Sakura on his team? He had grown closer to them both during his time in the Academy, but Sasuke was confident in his ability to work with a wide range of people. After all, he had the patience and experience of someone beyond his years.

There was a lecture on genin protocols and then the class broke for lunch. In the afternoon they would meet with their jonin sensei.

As per usual, Naruto, Sasuke, and Sakura left the classroom to find a spot to eat together. After the first time they had lunch together, Sakura had been looking for another opportunity to get close to Sasuke, and Naruto presented the perfect opportunity by inviting her to eat with them the next day, and the next, and the next, and then it just became routine. It also helped that Sakura always brought a little extra to fed Naruto's cavernous stomach.

Sasuke had tolerated Sakura's company because he thought that Naruto was crushing on the pink-haired girl and she was polite enough to the blond, but when she proved to be less fanatical towards him than canon portrayed her to be, he relaxed and gradually accepted her addition into the group. The fact that she seemed to be taking her ninja training more seriously did nothing but add to her appeal and Sasuke found his respect for her growing. Eventually he started to call her by her given name and at Naruto's prompting had dropped all honorifics, much to Sakura's joy.

Sasuke wasn't sure what caused the change in Sakura, since he did not actively do anything to help her change, but he sure wasn't going to look the gift horse in the mouth.

After lunch, the genin reassembled in the classroom to meet their jonin sensei. Soon Team Seven was the only one left. Half an hour passed and their sensei still did not arrive.

"Iruka-sensei, you should go home and rest now. We can wait for our new sensei by ourselves," Naruto said.

Iruka looked unsure, but at Naruto's prompting he relented with a relieved sigh. Sasuke studied Iruka as he left the room. It was hard to tell, but from the way that Iruka moved, Sasuke deduced that Iruka was injured and it looked like a pretty serious injury, too. It was impressive the way Iruka was able to withstand the pain to be present for team assignments today. Of course, the medic-nin should have healed him, but his injury was still new and he should've been relegated to at least a day of bed rest.

Sasuke's eyes widened and then narrowed into a glare, but the one he was angry at was himself. He can't believe he had forgotten about Iruka getting hurt by Mizuki. It was one of those details that you don't quite forget, but it also doesn't linger at the forefront of your mind, so it needed some trigger to stimulate the memory.

Another hour passed with no jonin showing up. During lunch Naruto had regaled Sasuke and Sakura with the story of his field promotion, smoothly editing out the bit about the kyuubi, and now there was nothing left to talk about. They were on good terms with each other at this point so they didn't need to break the ice either. All that was left to do was to wait.

Finally, Naruto got so fed up that he took up a chalkboard eraser.

"Naruto, wait."

"But Sasuke," Naruto whined.

Sasuke motioned for the eraser and Naruto handed it over with a pout. Sasuke couldn't help himself. Being around Naruto had made him a bit of a prankster, too. He sprinkled a bit of white powder onto the eraser and then handed it back to Naruto. "Careful with that," he warned.

Sakura watched the duo with fascinated horror.

Naruto gave him a foxy grin and went to prop the eraser up between the door and doorframe. Half an hour later, Kakashi walked into the room and the trap fell right on top of him. Sasuke wondered if he was humoring them to get them to let down their guard. Well it certainly seemed to work on Naruto, who was busting a gut laughing, and Sakura, who was flabbergasted with disbelief that their _jonin_ sensei had fallen for such an elementary trick. Sasuke couldn't help the smile on his face, but he hid it behind interlaced fingers. No doubt the jonin would make Naruto and Sasuke regret that little prank tomorrow. Come to think of it, maybe that's why Kakashi had poked Naruto in the butthole in the original timeline. Sasuke wondered if he would have to guard his butt, too. But for today, it was worth the fun.

"Hmm… my first impression of you all is that I hate you," Kakashi said, managing to sound both deadpanned and cheerful at the same time. That was an art form in and of itself. "Meet me on the roof in five minutes." Then Kakashi disappeared with a poof.

Sasuke wasn't sure what made him do what he did next. He was probably riding high on the successful eraser prank or maybe it was paranoia caused by the poison talking. It was a spur of the moment decision and in hindsight, a completely logical course of action for someone who wasn't supposed to know what their jonin-sensei looked like.

"Naruto, Sakura, wait."

His teammates paused on their way to the door.

"We don't know who that strange ninja is," Sasuke spoke in a low and urgent voice that immediately had Naruto and Sakura on alert.

"Isn't he our jonin-sensei?" Sakura asked, her voice pitched to match Sasuke's low tone.

"That's a logical leap of deduction, but we can't be too sure. Our jonin-sensei was supposed to show up three hours ago. Perhaps he or she was attacked by an enemy ninja and that enemy ninja is now posing as our jonin-sensei."

"What?" Sakura exclaimed in a harsh whisper, disturbed by the idea.

"It's hard, but it's happened before, enemy ninja slipping into our village and making off with unsuspecting ninja children."

Naruto's face was unusually solemn. He had heard the tale of Sasuke's kidnapping from the adopted Uchihas. He never got the full story, because Sasuke refused to divulge his full version of the events, but Naruto was able to put enough facts together to figure out the picture.

"Sasuke's right. We should be careful," Naruto said.

"What should we do?" Sakura questioned.

Sasuke looked between the two of them, a haphazard plan forming in his mind.

* * *

Author's Note: OC!Sasuke doesn't know this, but in my mind, Naruto actually racked up enough points to pass the genin exam this time around. But Mizuki failed him anyways based on a bias technicality, or maybe he messed with the scores of the written exam, and then he approached Naruto afterwards with the "secret test." Since there's no way to work this tidbit of information smoothly into the story I thought I'd add it here as a fun fyi.


	17. Chapter 17

.

Chapter 17

Across the Line

Sasuke turned to Naruto first. "Naruto, you said you learned the Shadow Clone Technique right?" At Naruto's nod, he continued, "How many can you make?"

"I don't know. Five hundred? Eight hundred? Probably more."

Sakura's eyes widened at the information.

Sasuke nodded. "Make a few clones and transform them to look like someone else. Send two to find Gai-sensei and Misao-sensei. They're both jonin and should be able to handle themselves against an enemy ninja. Send the third one to find a chunin instructor, someone that can identify whether this ninja is our jonin-sensei or not. The other clones should look for any other source of help that can be trusted. Don't send too many clones out of the Academy at once. That might rouse his suspicion."

Naruto nodded and made the clones. With a puff of smoke they transformed into nondescript looking Academy workers and left the room. Sakura's brows were knotted with worry, but she kept her composure.

"If that ninja is strong enough to take down a jonin then he must be pretty strong. Our goal is not to defeat him, only to keep him here until reinforcements arrive. If possible, we'll try to detain him. Go in with the intent to kill, and don't let yourselves be killed. If the situation goes south, pull back, understood?"

Sakura and Naruto nodded. Twin looks of grim determination on their faces.

"Naruto, I want you to climb to the roof from the outside," Sasuke pointed at the window. "I will go to the room across the hall and climb up from that side. Naruto, use your clones to overwhelm him. I'll look for a chance to restrain him. Sakura, take the stairs and stay hidden until you see an opening and then attack, or jump in if it looks like one of us is in trouble."

They nodded.

"Go," Sasuke commanded and left the room to do his part. Sakura followed him out the room and then turned down the hallway to get into position.

Sasuke had yet to learn tree climbing with chakra, but he was ingenious with ninja wire and made use of that to scale the building. He knew that Naruto would find a way up with all of his prankster tricks under his belt.

His head popped up to the roof in time to see a horde of Naruto clones ganging up on the lazy jonin. The jonin was reading a book and scratching absently at his head when Naruto attacked. From his vantage point, Sasuke couldn't tell if Kakashi was surprised or not, but Kakashi immediately sprung into action, taking down the clones with ease. That damnable orange book was still held open with one hand.

"Maa, maa. So energetic."

"Who are you?" Naruto demanded.

"I'm your jonin-sensei."

"Yeah, right. Like I would believe that so easily."

Sasuke crept closer. The real Naruto went in to exchange blows with Kakashi. While Kakashi was preoccupied with Naruto's aerial assault, Sasuke swept in to take out Kakashi's footing with a sweeping kick. Kakashi leapt upward nimbly and avoided his leg, but Sasuke was prepared for that. As he pulled away, he gripped his ninja wire and pulled. A second attempt at Kakashi's legs. Kakashi jumped away from the general area to avoid the ninja wire and a kick to the head courtesy of Naruto.

It really was quite impressive to see all that orange moving in a mass.

Sasuke followed Kakashi with a Great Fireball Technique that had Kakashi tucking his beloved book away. Sasuke couldn't be sure if it was because Kakashi had deemed them worthy of his attention or if he was just hiding his book away for safekeeping. Sasuke pursued with a barrage of shuriken.

Kakashi dodged backwards into a trio of Naruto clones waiting to pummel him. Kakashi kicked one in the stomach, poked another in the eyeballs, and headbutted the third one in the face with enough force to dispel all of them.

As the third clone poofed out of existence, Sasuke slid under Kakashi's guard and unleashed a fury of upward kicks and punches. Kakashi retaliated. He easily deflected Sasuke's attacks and spun him around in the air, but Sasuke _thrived_ in the air. He turned the spin into a twirling air kick that was too quick to dodge. Kakashi raised his arm to block.

Sasuke smirked when his kick collided. He had put a lot of momentum into that kick and he was also wearing weights. The kick actually forced Kakashi back and Sasuke celebrated the small victory.

Kakashi made an abortive, distracted movement towards his head, and that was when Sakura came out brandishing a giant battle-ax. Even Sasuke paused at the sight. Sakura swung the ax with strength that belied her petit body. She would have cleaved Kakashi in half if he hadn't used the Substitution Technique. A log of wood clattered to the floor in two pieces. The cut was clean and precise.

"Naruto. Up!" Sasuke commanded.

The blond understood immediately, and with a clone, he made a step with their joined hands and threw Sasuke up to where Kakashi landed. Sasuke spun in the air and weaved his ninja wire around Kakashi to restrain the jonin, but the jonin escaped and the wire tightened around a sandbag instead.

Sakura deftly changed the direction of her giant battle-ax and swung diagonally up to attack Kakashi. The jonin dodged, and Sasuke swung the sandbag at him. Sakura abandoned her ax as Kakashi dodged in her direction and she engaged him in a taijutsu battle.

Sasuke was impressed by Sakura's fluid display. He knew she was training in taijutsu, and her rankings in class had gone up, but he didn't know she had gotten this good already. She must have held back in taijutsu class. Still, she was no match for a jonin. When Kakashi knocked her backwards, Sasuke slid in to catch her, and Naruto charged in with his clones.

"Dynamic Entry!"

A green blur descended on the roof, and rocketed towards Kakashi. Naruto jumped back as Gai made contact with the concrete roof, denting the surface.

"Who dares to attack the youthful students of Konoha?" Gai slid fluidly into a taijutsu stance and then he faltered.

"Kakashi-san?" Misao exclaimed with surprise as she landed before Sasuke and Sakura with three kunai in each hand.

At the same time, Gai shouted, "Kakashi!"

"You two _know_ this guy?" Naruto asked.

"Yes," Misao answered. "He is Hatake Kakashi, a fellow Konoha jonin."

"Oh." Naruto dispelled his clones. "Hey guys," he waved to Sakura and Sasuke who was getting back onto their feet. "He's not an enemy ninja!"

"So we've heard," Sasuke said, keeping his voice dry and neutral. They approached Kakashi tentatively.

Sakura bowed. "We apologize for attacking you. But our jonin-sensei was three hours late, so we were afraid that something might have happened to him, and that you might be an enemy ninja posing as him."

Misao sighed, "This is what you get for being late all the time, Kakashi-san."

Gai laughed boisterously. "I always said your tardiness would come back to bite you in the butt someday."

"Thank you for your help, jonin-san." Sakura bowed to Gai and Misao.

"We are sorry to have troubled you over this," Sasuke bowed, too.

"It was no trouble at all!" Gai boomed.

"Better safe than sorry," Misao added and smiled reassuringly.

"But to think that Sasuke and Naruto would be on my eternal rival's team. Ha ha ha!"

"What's so funny?" Naruto asked.

"Don't mind them, grown men have weird hobbies," Misao said.

At that point three other ninja arrived on the Academy roof. After clearing up the misunderstanding and confirming that, yes, Kakashi is Team Seven's jonin sensei the other ninja dispersed, leaving Team Seven on the roof top.

Sakura retrieved her battle-ax and stored it back into a storage scroll.

"When did you learn fuuinjustu?" Sasuke asked.

"I didn't. A friend of a friend helped me with this," she indicated the scroll as she tucked it away.

"You were so cool, Sakura-chan! I didn't know you were that strong," Naruto enthused.

"Gee, thanks, Naruto."

"Naruto, don't be mean to Sakura," Sasuke chided.

"What? No- I wasn't- I didn't mean-"

Sasuke cut through Naruto's blathering and assured Sakura, "He meant it as a compliment." Sakura nodded and ignored the stammering blond.

As one they turned to their jonin sensei. He was observing them quietly the entire time.

"Maa maa, you guys certainly stirred up quite a bit of ruckus." Kakashi said. They stayed silent. He sighed. "Why did I get saddled with such an uncute team?" No one answered him. "Well, I was originally going to test you on your team work, but since you've proven to me that you _can_ work together as a team… You passed! Welcome to Team Seven."

"Wait, pass? Pass what?" Naruto asked.

Kakashi then explained the secret test that all genin teams had to pass in order to become actual genin. Naruto was suitably pissed by the idea until Sakura pointed out he already passed.

Kakashi scratched at his head. "Well, meet me at training ground seven tomorrow at eight a.m. sharp."

"Hatake-sensei," Sasuke spoke up before Kakashi could flitter off. "Use tomato juice to wash out your hair."

"Ahh, your doing I see."

It was a rhetorical statement so Sasuke did not respond. Then Kakashi left.

"What was that powder?" Sakura asked.

"Itching powder." Sasuke smirked in amusement. "It has a delayed effect of five minutes but gets increasingly itchier as time passes." It was Sasuke's own concoction, and of course he was immune to it.

Naruto cracked up. "That was brilliant."

"Why don't we eat out for dinner? To celebrate our passing?" Sasuke suggested. Sakura nodded enthusiastically. "No ramen."

Naruto's face fell and Sakura giggled.

After dinner that evening and after Sakura had left for her course home, Naruto turned to Sasuke. The blond was blushing and fidgeting uncharacteristically.

"Is something wrong Naruto?"

"Ah, well, today, in the classroom… you said… you said you already had your first kiss."

Sasuke cocked his head to the side in amusement. "Yes?"

"Was it… was it…"

"Was it what, Naruto?" Sasuke prompted.

"Was it Karin?" The blond blurted.

Sasuke blinked, taken aback. That was a logical assumption, he supposed, what with the way Karin being so blatant about her affections. Karin can be rather extreme with her displays of love, but Sasuke didn't find her off-putting, he just found her antics a bit over the top and embarrassing. He quite liked her though. The redhead was loyal, tight-lipped, proactive, and a dependable friend and comrade in arms.

"It wasn't Karin." Sasuke said.

Naruto brightened up at the news, but then his shoulders slumped. "Do you mind telling me who it was?"

Sasuke scratched the side of his cheek. He can't very well tell Naruto that he had his first kiss years ago, in his previous life. So he decided to answer as Uchiha Sasuke and not as the dual being that he currently was, "It was you." And it was the truth as far as Sasuke's body was concerned.

Naruto's eyes widened and he stared at Sasuke as he tried to wrap his mind around the answer. "But I thought you meant-"

"I had to say _something_ to get the girls to back off. And it was the truth. At that time I had just had my first kiss with you."

Naruto studied the sincerity in Sasuke's eyes, and once the truth dawned on him, the effect was immediate. Color spread from his cheeks to the tips of his ears.

Sasuke chuckled. The blond looked so adorable when he was embarrassed. Naruto normally didn't do embarrassed. He bulldozed over social conventions and overturned traditions. To see him like this was a rare sight. Taking pity on the boy, Sasuke decided to put an end to his embarrassment.

"Don't worry about it. It was just an accident. I didn't mind." Naruto's face got even redder and Sasuke backtracked. "Oh, that must have been your first kiss. Sorry. Having a guy as your first kiss probably wasn't what you had in mind."

Naruto looked down at his sandals and wouldn't meet Sasuke's eyes. Ah, hormones, how they love to wreck havoc on the teenage body.

"Look, just forget about it," Sasuke said, bumping his fist against Naruto's shoulder in what he hoped was a brotherly manner. "If it makes you feel better we can pretend it never happened."

Naruto looked up, his eyes wide. He opened his mouth to speak when Karin blitzed in and kicked her cousin into a tree. Neji and Lee soon came into view. From their disheveled state, Sasuke guessed they just came back from a mission or an intense training session with Gai.

"What a coincidence that we met up here." Karin gushed.

She did not latch onto Sasuke like she normally would, probably because she was afraid of smelling bad after strenuous activities. Not that Sasuke would've mind, since she cuddled him even when he was sweaty and gross, but he decided not to give her any ideas. She was clingy enough as is.

"But Karin-san, you said you sensed Sasuke-sensei and then you-" Lee never got to finish that statement, because Karin punched his face into the ground. She turned to Sasuke with an innocent smile and tittered behind her hand. Sasuke sweatdropped. The redhead was scary. In more ways than one.

"What was that for –ttebayo!" Naruto screamed, having recover from his face plant into the tree.

Karin took Sasuke by the hand and started dragging him along. "Let's go home, Sasuke. It's getting late and I want to have a hot bath as soon as possible."

"Hey, don't ignore me when I'm talking to you!" Naruto shook his fist at Karin's back.

Sasuke barely managed to say his good-byes before Karin hauled him out of sight.


	18. Chapter 18

Response to Akio (12/19/17): Hello! Thank you for reading and taking the time to share your thoughts with me. I understand your standpoint, and I respect your opinion, but like you said, I'm going to continue writing this story in the way that my muse prompts me. To be fair, the canon world of Naruto is _very_ heteronormative, anything gay is only played for laughs and not taken seriously, so any non-heteronormative themes would be against the grain of canon. But I'm a strong believer of acceptance regardless of a person's sex, gender identity, and romantic preference. So these themes are always prevalent in my writing. I would have to very consciously edit them out if I wanted to write a heteronormative story. To me, Naruto's crush on OC!Sasuke stems from Naruto's lonely childhood and the villagers' mistreatment of him, so when OC!Sasuke showed him kindness, Naruto latched onto him. The main focus of this story will be friendship and family first (as per the story tags). I don't really intend to explore actual romance in this particular story, but perhaps people may read romantic undertones in the eventual closeness of the characters' relationships.

 **Author's Note** (5/29/18): I'm tired of people railing on me saying that this story is gay when I never meant for it to be romance focus in the first place. I guess I simply view intimacy differently and I also don't count puppy crushes as serious romance that necessitates a prior warning. For a long while it really killed my motivation there. So now I'm tagging this story as _**Sasuke x Multi**_ for all the sensitive people out there. And yes, multi includes _**both male and female characters**_. The direction of this story might swerve a little with that tag hanging over my head, but I'll try my best to stick to my original focus, which is on the camaraderie and familial relationships between characters. For the record, I _can_ write slash, and if I do the gayness would be much more obvious than this.

* * *

Chapter 18

The Team Line

A knock sounded on Kakashi's door just as he was getting out of the shower. He swore his hair still smelled like tomato juice despite the shampoo he used.

Kakashi deactivated his traps and opened the door to see Gai, his self-proclaimed eternal rival, standing there in his trademark nice guy pose: thumb up, grin sparkling, and sunset shimmering behind him. Except that it wasn't sunset yet.

Kakashi sighed, "What is it Gai?"

"What a nonchalant and hip greeting!"

"Come in, I don't want people to see that I'm associated with you."

When Gai entered the apartment, he was greeted by Kakashi's ninken. Recognizing Gai's scent, they went back to doing whatever they were doing before he arrived, which was mostly napping.

Gai's face dropped its brilliant grin as soon as the door closed. Kakashi had a feeling this was coming, which was why he invited Gai in. At other times he would just kick Gai over the railing for disturbing him.

"So I heard you passed Team Seven. Congratulations on getting a team, my eternal rival! Now our youthful teams may compete against each other and motivate each other to new heights."

"Mm-hmm. Get to the point Gai."

Gai sobered up. "As you are probably aware, I am familiar with two of your students already."

"I don't want to know how it happened."

"I want to talk to you about Sasuke."

"The Uchiha?"

"Just be careful with him."

"Yeah, I'll say," Kakashi said, remembering the ambush on the Academy roof.

"No. I mean… be gentle with him."

Kakashi's brow rose. This doesn't sound like the youthful Gai at all, who always shouted about hard work, sweat, and manly tears.

"I presume you know about his kidnapping. It happened not too long after the massacre. I can't imagine the horrors that child faced at such a young age, but it has… aged him."

"With age comes experience and maturity."

"Age also makes one fragile and brittle." Gai patted Kakashi on the shoulder. "You will understand what I mean when you interact with him." Gai stepped back, ready to take his leave.

"I take care of all my teammates. I won't let any one of them die before me." Kakashi stated.

"Take care of not just the body, but also the heart." With those words, Gai saw himself out the door.

xxx

Gai's words bothered Kakashi enough that he was only an hour late to meet his new team.

"You're late!" Naruto fumed.

Even Sakura looked annoyed. They probably thought he was going to be on time from now on after that little fiasco yesterday, but old habits were hard to break.

"Maa… I saw a little lost kitten up in a tree, so I rescued it and returned it to the owner."

His students looked like they didn't know whether to believe him or not, but since they don't know him well yet, they gave him the benefit of doubt. Kakashi cackled inwardly. He'll rile them up soon enough.

"By the way, where's Sasuke?" Kakashi inquired.

"Late, like you."

Right on cue, Sasuke ran up to them, his long ponytail streaming like a black ribbon behind him. "Sorry, I'm late," he apologized.

Sasuke's cheeks were a little flushed from exertion. Sakura blushed as she took him in. She still hadn't gotten over his wardrobe change yet. The white made him look angelic, but black gave him an air of mystery, and with his hair tied up in a high ponytail instead, he looked so different.

Naruto's cheeks flushed as he remembered their conversation from last night, but he tempered it down quickly before the others can notice and covered it up with a boisterous demand. "Why were _you_ late?" Naruto jabbed his finger at Sasuke. Sakura looked curious, too. Sasuke was always on time.

"I saw a lost cat stuck up in a tree, so I rescued her and returned her to the owner."

Silence descended on the field. Even Kakashi sweatdropped. Overhead, a crow cawed its way across the sky.

"That's the same excuse that Kakashi-sensei gave! Dattebayo!"

"You were late, too, sensei?" Sasuke asked without inflection. In truth, he had expected Kakashi to be much later as a punishment for the eraser and itching powder prank. Yes, he thought of Kakashi as a petty person. Kakashi read all that in Sasuke's innocent question and decided he'll be extra late tomorrow just to spite the boy.

"My, my, late on the first day. I'm afraid that will warrant some punishment later."

"You were late, too," Naruto protested.

Kakashi ignore him. "But first, let's go around and do introductions. We skipped over that yesterday."

"What should we talk about?" Sakura asked.

"What are your likes, dislikes, hobbies and dreams. Things like that."

Naruto raised his hand eagerly, "Then I'll go first. I like ramen, especially if it's the ramen that Iruka-sensei buys for me at Ichiraku. I also like Iruka-sensei, the Uchiha family, especially Sasuke, Sakura-chan of course, and sometimes the old man Hokage. I dislike the three minutes it takes for cup ramen to boil, and I don't like people who hurt my friends. My hobbies are eating different types of ramen and training with Sasuke. My dream… is to be the greatest Hokage of all time and make people acknowledge me! Dattebayo!"

Naruto certainly grew up interestingly. Kakashi studied the other two children on the team, two of the people that Naruto said he likes. He wondered if this might be one of the reasons that solidified their team formation. He had heard that Iruka-sensei had a soft spot for Naruto. Kakashi nodded. "Next."

Sakura spoke up, "I like learning and seeing myself get stronger. I like umeboshi and sweet foods. I also like," her eyes lingered on Sasuke and then glanced at Naruto briefly, "kind people. I dislike people who look down on my civilian background, and I don't care much for spicy foods. My hobbies are reading and playing trivia games. My dream is to become the best kunoichi I can be and to make my parents proud of me."

Most girls her age are preoccupied with love affairs, but Sakura seems to be more down to earth. That will make it easier to work with her. Kakashi nodded. Sasuke looked over at Sakura in what might have been surprise or approval. Kakashi cleared his throat and motioned for Sasuke to introduce himself.

"I like… peaceful mornings, animals, and watching the sunrise. My favorite foods are shellfish and…" Sasuke's eyes flickered up to Kakashi's hair, "tomatoes." Kakashi didn't even twitch. He only eye smiled and waited for Sasuke to continue. "I dislike alcoholics, and I hate people who betray my trust and people who abuse my kindness. My hobbies are spending time with my family and friends and experimenting with new recipes. My dream?" Sasuke said the word like he hadn't thought of it in a long time and there was a faraway look in his eyes. "I simply want to live without regrets."

Despite Gai's insistence, Kakashi wasn't quite expecting this version of Sasuke. He was ready to deal with a moody preteen hell bent on revenge, and perhaps a little touched in the head from his rough childhood. What he got was someone much more mild and mellow. He didn't miss the edge in Sasuke's voice when he talked about his dislikes though. He wondered what bought about this change in the Uchiha. Was it his new family? Was it Naruto?

"You all have unique personalities. I like that." Kakashi clapped his hands. "Now for today's agenda."

"Hatake-sensei," the Uchiha spoke up.

"Kakashi is fine."

"…Kakashi-sensei, what about your introduction. We're a team now, it's only right that we all learn about each other."

"Hmmm…" Kakashi pondered on this. He supposed this fledgling team had earned a bone at least. "My likes are too adult for you to know about." Kakashi delighted in the disturbed grimaces on their faces. "I dislike people who don't follow the rules, but I dislike people who abandon their comrades even more. My hobby is reading. My dreams for the future are to continue protecting my village and to see my cute genin team all grow up into fine people." He grinned at them.

Sasuke looked gobsmacked. Kakashi pouted. Did that boy think so little of him? Hmm, yeah, he probably does, but it's not like Kakashi cares what others think of him. He reads porn openly in public. Enough said.

"Now, we are going to go through some team exercises. Then we'll break for lunch and complete a mission in the afternoon."

"A mission? Alright!" Naruto cheered.

Kakashi grinned under his mask. He can't wait to see the look on his team's faces when they receive their first D-rank. He specially reserved the Tora mission for them. Kakashi's shoulders shook with repressed laughter.

"Don't let it get to your head, Naruto." Sasuke said.

"Yeah, as genin, our first missions won't be all that exciting," Sakura added.

 _Spoilsports_ , Kakashi thought.

xxx

Team Seven was looking a little battered and worse for wear by the time lunch rolled around. They were so tired that they didn't even have the energy to glare at Kakashi or give him lip anymore. He glanced over at Sasuke whose face and clothes were caked with mud, whilst the other two were only covered in dirt. Yeah, Kakashi was being a little vindictive and it was entertaining as heck. Sasuke noticed right away, but didn't comment because he knew that doing so would only make the pay back worse. Smart boy.

It wasn't all for laughs, though. Kakashi did try to drill the mechanics of teamwork into them. His team may understand the importance of working together, but they've never really practiced working together as a group, so these exercises were to help them develop a team style.

They still have a ways to go.

The kids have no problem when it came to helping each other out of tough spots. Sasuke was especially good at this, often times identifying and pre-empting a problem before one of his teammates could be caught up in the trap. What they each had trouble with was asking for help. They were trying so hard to prove themselves that they forgot the other equation of teamwork. This was especially obvious with Sakura. It was like she had pegged herself as the weakest link in the group and refused to bow.

Asking for help was a little easier for Naruto, but he would only ask for Sasuke's help. Since Naruto and Sasuke trained together, the blond had less compunction about asking his sparring partner for help. By not asking Sakura for help, Naruto was in his own way "looking out for" her, but to Sakura, it felt like she was being babied, which in turn alienated her, and pushed her to drive herself even harder. If someone doesn't crack soon, then Kakashi was going to have to pound it into their heads.

Reliance is not always a sign of weakness.

It's only the first official day of training. They will learn soon enough.

Kakashi pulled out the pre-packaged bento boxes he bought for his team. They sat in the field and ate lunch together.

After finishing up the food, they headed to the Hokage Tower for their first mission as Team Seven.

Kakashi made a beeline for the chunin he talked to that morning to reserve the Tora mission.

"My apologies, Kakashi-san, but that mission has already been completed."

"Oh?"

The chunin sweatdropped at the ominous nature of Kakashi's tone and hastened to explain, "You see, a genin came in this morning with the cat. Since it would be inefficient to turn him away, we wrote up the mission under his team. In fact…" the chunin pointed at Sasuke, "that would be the genin I spoke of."

All of Team Seven turned to stare at Sasuke in surprise.

"The payment will be routed to your accounts soon," the chunin continued.

Sasuke blinked innocently at his team.

"You mean you weren't lying about the cat this morning?" Naruto exclaimed.

"Sasuke-kun, you already completed our team's first mission by yourself?"

The boy in question shrugged, "I like animals." He sounded almost defensive.

With a lazy blink, Kakashi turned back to the chunin on duty. Well, this was an unexpected turn of events, but there's no use lingering over it now. "Do you have any babysitting missions?" Those were the second least favorite among genin.

"Babysitting?" Naruto squawked.

Kakashi's visible eye crinkled in amusement. "Babysitting."

Half an hour later found Team Seven at the Suzuki resident saddled with a four children between the ages of one and seven.

"Have fun, my cute genin." Kakashi said and disappeared somewhere, presumably to read Icha Icha. At least he had the decency not to read that smut in front of their client's children.

He returned four hours later to taunt- that is, to check on- his students. What he found was Naruto and Sakura completely pooped out in the kitchen, surrounded by baby formula and half eaten mush. In the bedroom, Sasuke was just tucking the last child into bed for naptime.

Sasuke then came into the kitchen to join the rest of his team. He didn't look much worse for wear since Kakashi had left them. In fact, he had even found time to clean off some of the dried mud on his person. In contrast, Naruto and Sakura looked more rumpled and there were bits of food stuck in their hair. Sasuke nodded at Kakashi and began clearing off the kitchen table.

Sakura jumped up. "Let me help."

"My, my, you're just full of surprises today, Sasuke-kun." Kakashi teased.

Sasuke gave Kakashi a wry smile. "It's not that hard to babysit if you can get into the mindset of a child. I used to have-" Sasuke suddenly broke off. The faint smile he had on his face disappeared. He wiped off a spill on the table and turned his back to them as he wrung out the towel in the sink. His shoulders slumped. With his back still turned, Sasuke continued, "I used to have… dreams of having younger siblings."

The teasing twinkle disappeared from Kakashi's eye.

"Sasuke." Naruto studied his friend's back.

"Sasuke-kun." Sakura touched her hand hesitantly to the brunette's elbow.

"Nee-chan?" A sleepy voice called from the threshold.

To Kakashi's surprise, instead of Sakura, Sasuke was the one to turn.

"Yes?" The Uchiha smiled, all traces of melancholy gone.

"I need to go pee-pee," the child said.

"All right, let's go." Sasuke ushered the child out of the kitchen.

"Nee-chan?" Kakashi inquired and the mood in the room lightened.

"Just don't ask."


End file.
